ESCONDIDO — A City Council majority has agreed to send a letter requesting that five local congressional leaders take action at the federal level to create new comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
The Aug. 13 letter was sent to U.S. congressional Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall), Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano), Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego), Scott Peters (D-San Diego) and Juan Vargas (D-San Diego).
The letter, brought forward by Councilmember Christian Garcia with help from Mayor Dane White, highlights Escondido as a community that depends heavily on immigrant workers in the city’s agriculture, construction, hospitality and service industries. The letter notes that Hispanic and Latino Americans make up 51.7% of the city’s population, and 27.1% of its residents are foreign-born.
At the same time, the letter addresses how uncertainty around federal immigration policy has created “workforce instability” affecting the community’s economic growth and “operational challenges for local governments that require congressional intervention.”
Those challenges, according to the letter, include public safety concerns due to unclear immigration enforcement policies, which erode trust in local law enforcement; economic uncertainty due to businesses struggling with workforce planning while employee legal status remains uncertain; burdens on health care systems, schools and social services addressing the needs of the community without “adequate federal coordination or funding support”; and the need for due process and equal protection under constitutional and civil rights.
Specifically, the letter asks local congressional leaders to support new immigration legislation that includes:
- “Clear criteria and timelines for individuals who have demonstrated community ties, employment history, and tax compliance to obtain legal status,
- Creation of guest worker programs that address seasonal labor need while protecting wages and working conditions for all workers,
- Support increased resources for border security infrastructure and immigration court systems to ensure orderly, efficient processing of immigration cases, and
- Clear federal guidelines that distinguish between local public safety responsibilities and federal immigration enforcement to rebuild community trust.”
“Studies consistently demonstrate that immigration reform generates positive fiscal impacts at federal, state, and local levels,” the letter states. “For communities like Escondido, these benefits translate directly into improved public services and infrastructure investments.”
The council also asked representatives to:
- “Champion comprehensive immigration reform that addresses both border security and legal pathways for current residents,
- Support increased funding for immigration courts and processing systems to reduce case backlogs, and to establish protections for current legal pathways,
- Advocate for clear federal guidelines that enable effective local law enforcement while maintaining community trust,
- Promote bipartisan dialogue focused on practical solutions rather than partisan positioning, and
- Visit our community to observe firsthand the positive contributions of immigrant families and businesses.”
More than two dozen members of the community expressed their support for the letter at the Aug. 13 council meeting during public comment and through written letters.
Earlier this summer, a group of concerned residents called Escondido Neighbors for Solutions submitted a proposed resolution to City Council that would commit the city to “safeguarding the due process and constitutional rights of all individuals, regardless of immigration status.”
While the letter is not a resolution, Garcia noted he took much of the language and ideas from the resolution and incorporated them into the letter “in an act of good faith.”
“Though on principle I agree with some of the additional suggestions, it conflates local and state laws into what we’re asking Congress to do at the federal level, so we couldn’t add everything we hoped for,” Garcia said.
Garcia, whose family immigrated from Mexico, acknowledged how important the letter’s intent is to both himself and his community. He said the letter is also intentionally bipartisan and addresses a dire need for the nation to update its antiquated immigration laws.
“The last comprehensive immigration reform was passed before I was even born,” he said, later adding, “Our congressional representatives are more than qualified to spearhead this effort.”
Several supporters of the letter also requested more language, such as banning masks worn by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“Imagine if everyone in the audience was wearing a mask – you’d be scared, you’d have anxiety, and you’d wonder what was going on,” resident Jim Cassidy said.
Deputy Mayor Consuelo Martinez also supported adding a line in the letter against masked ICE agents. She also heavily criticized the agency, recalling the presence of masked agents in San Diego and recently in Encinitas at Home Depot.
“They’re not looking for criminals, they’re looking for day laborers. They’re looking for everyday people, hardworking immigrants,” she said. “ICE is an unaccountable, rogue agency, in my opinion.”
In the end, the rest of council didn’t agree to Martinez’s amendment request for no masks because it could be perceived as divisive.
Though supportive of the letter, Martinez felt that it wasn’t specific enough in its requests.
“I think the point of the letter is not to be specific, it’s to encourage them to do something,” White said. “When you start putting in specifics… you limit the amount of support this is going to have moving forward.”
Councilmember Judy Fitzgerald abstained from voting in favor or against the letter. She said most of the requests already had answers in current policy, including enhanced border security as well as existing legal pathways to citizenship.
Fitzgerald suggested the council host more opportunities to teach people about the existing legal pathways and noted that there were “very good reasons” why some people in the community have had their request for visas denied.
City Council’s discussion also highlighted an existing California law that restricts state law enforcement agencies from assisting federal immigration enforcement.
Under the law, Escondido Police Department and other law enforcement agencies cannot ask people about their immigration status, arrest anyone for having a deportation order or most other immigration violations, use immigration agents as interpreters, or share personal information like home addresses with ICE or Border Patrol unless it’s publicly available.
Police also cannot provide office space for immigration authorities. However, that doesn’t prevent ICE from using the public parking lot at EPD Headquarters at 1163 Centre City Pkwy.
Councilmember Joe Garcia advised community members to call 911 if they are confronted by someone without identifiable law enforcement markings, like a badge number, claiming to be a police officer.
