Proof the Left in California is nuts: opposing the arrest of violent, thug MS-13 members is protested at a council meeting..

Making America into either Mexico or Chicago seems their goal.

Santa Cruz efforts torestore ‘maintain trustand safety’ disrupted inHomeland Security raids 

By JESSICA A. YORK, SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL |
PUBLISHED: February 15, 2017 at 6:36 am | UPDATED: February 15, 2017 at 6:41 am

SANTA CRUZ – Chanting “let us speak,” some 100 or more protesters drew a temporary halt to Tuesday’s Santa Cruz City Council meeting.

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The group came together in an outcry at the previous day’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security raids across the county. The federal operation, undertaken in collaboration with local law enforcement, resulted in a series of arrests at 12 sites and federal indictment of 10 men, ages 20 to 40, believed to be associated with Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, transnational gang. The men faced charges related to conspiracy to commit extortion and possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, with some suspected of involvement in local homicides, according to police.

Speaker Pat Malo said the community was not defending MS-13, but rather the city’s involvement with Homeland Security, which oversees both criminal investigations and immigration enforcement and removal divisions.

“We’re not here saying we’re for any criminal activity,” Malo said. “We’re here saying we need to understand what it means when we criminalize people.”

Police Chief Kevin Vogel, shortly after being lauded for 30 years with the department, elaborated on the department’s actions. He said the five-year investigation into MS-13 began in 2011, when a member of Santa Cruz’s immigrant community told police the gang was organizing locally, extorting the community with violence if they did not “pay taxes” to the affiliate.

Though the council already was set to discuss its under-development “Resolution to Maintain Trust and Safety for Local Immigrants,” a so-called “sanctuary city” provision later in the afternoon, protesters argued their concerns constituted an “emergency” that should be heard immediately. The council conceded the point shortly afterward, with some 30 speakers heard on the issue.

“On behalf of our entire council, I wanted to express and acknowledge the understanding of the fear and uncertainty that’s being felt by the community at this time,” said Vice Mayor David Terrazas, who was presiding over the evening’s meeting in Mayor Cynthia Chase’s absence.

Speaker Alejandra Santiago, who immigrated here when she was a teenager, said through a translator that she could recall her fear during Beach Flats neighborhood immigration raids in the 1990s.

“For a long while I was very happy to live in Santa Cruz because we didn’t have these problems,” Santiago said. “But now I am worried about the young people and the children who are going through this terror, because I could call it terror.”

The council ultimately voted unanimously to direct city staff to come back on Feb. 28 with a final update to its sanctuary resolution, as originally planned. The motion, offered by Councilwoman Sandy Brown, also included direction for city staff to identify mechanisms and funding to work with the community, and explore a potential immigration-related city law. The police department also was asked to draft a detailed report on the details of Monday’s operation by Councilwoman Martine Watkins.

Speaker Stoney Brook, a retired Santa Cruz County sheriff deputy, said he would not earn any applause from the audience for saying he applauded the police department for being involved in the raids, offering a “calming influence” to the operation. He said he sympathized with stories of children who were upset by the arrests.

“It is not the fault of the police department. It’s the gang members who bring those children into that environment,” Brook said. “Those are the people that really should be held.”

Several public speakers asked city leaders to eliminate “loopholes” in city policy allowing the police department to work with federal immigration officials at all. Councilwoman Richelle Noroyan, in response, urged her peers not to “throw the baby out with the bath water” by barring all joint operations with federal law enforcement.

Several council members acknowledged that the federal raid had damaged residents’ trust with Councilwoman Cynthia Mathews saying Monday’s events “went horribly awry in terms of its impact on the community.”