Culver City Police Department affirms commitment to Sanctuary City policy

With immigration-related discussions reentering the main stage of American politics, the Culver City Police Department reaffirmed its position on enforcement in a statement made last Friday. The statement confirmed that Culver City Police will not actively participate in federal immigration operations.

"Along with following state law, the Culver City Police Department has robust policies that strictly prohibit the enforcement of immigration laws and the sharing of data or information with immigration authorities," the statement reads.

This position stems from a resolution made on March 27, 2017, by the Culver City Council, declaring Culver City a sanctuary city. Proclaiming oneself as a sanctuary city does not have a set meaning; it only indicates that the city will limit the information it shares with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

Policy related to citizenship has returned to the forefront with President Donald Trump's repeated promises to significantly curb immigration and remove large chunks of the population living in the country illegally. Los Angeles, which saw protests related to immigration policy Sunday morning, is one of the largest hubs of undocumented immigrants in the country.

Los Angeles is home to over 800,000 undocumented residents, according to the 2023 State of Immigrants in Los Angeles Report, with California as a whole having approximately 1.8 million undocumented immigrants, according to the most recently released data by Pew Research Center in 2022.

However, updates to how these numbers are tracked implemented as recently as January 25 slightly changed how this data looks moving forward, though no official report has been released using these new metrics.

California has also been considered one of the staunchest opponents of Trump's policies, with Governor Gavin Newsom looking to oppose Trump. In December, he announced the construction of a new Port of Entry between San Diego and Mexico to support trade between the country as the President shared plans to threaten tariffs to negotiate with America's southern neighbor.

Some members of the Culver City community have expressed their concerns with Culver City's stance on immigration. Public comments on the matter have mainly come from a single speaker, but responses on social media are more expansive.

A Facebook post sharing the statement received more than 70 comments as of Monday at 11 a.m., many of which criticized the city for not complying with immigration policy.

"Culver City should not disobey federal law any more than any of us living in Culver can." Barry Zalma said in a Facebook comment.

"Not what I had hoped to see," X user @dizzheart wrote in response to the statement. "I had hoped CCPD would not knuckle under to the far left coterie in our fair little city. I had hoped we would obey the law for our own safety."

Several comments supported Culver City's position as well. Some expressed concern over the well-being of all city residents, arguing that resources shouldn't be taken away from ensuring the community's safety.

"Thank you, CCPD for ensuring everyone in our city, whether they live, work, or visit here, can safely report crimes and seek help," Hayley Casselman commented on Facebook. "It does not serve the public interest for people to fear seeking law enforcement help will result in problems for themselves or their families."

One comment called back to a reported raid in New York that took place less than two weeks ago which targeted US citizens, including a military veteran. Members of Congress have also expressed concern over reports that citizens of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, have been detained as illegal immigrants by ICE despite being in the country legally.

"Be aware, if you “look foreign”, that is, not white European, you risk being reported and rounded up and deported," Sally Hartwig commented on Facebook.

See the Culver City Police Department's Facebook post here.