Community members delivered a blistering public rebuke of Mayor Valerie Amezcua Tuesday night, June 17, as more than 100 public speakers lined up during the City Council meeting to criticize what they saw as her lack of leadership during a time when the city needed her amid ongoing federal immigration raids in the city.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first since federal immigration enforcement officials began sweeping Santa Ana — the only declared sanctuary city in Orange County — on June 9, sparking days of protests. In a statement Tuesday afternoon, the Santa Ana Police Department said officers had made 24 arrests related to the protests over the six-day span. Charges included refusing to disperse, unlawful assembly, assaulting a peace officer, resisting or threatening an officer, vandalism and destroying a device used to call for emergency help.
Meanwhile, Sandra De Anda, network coordinator for the Orange County Rapid Response Network, said on Tuesday the group had been able to confirm through community volunteers verifying reported raids that at least 50 people — a lowball estimate, she added — had been detained by federal agents.
Outside City Hall, a few dozen people rallied before the council meeting in the courtyard around 4:30 p.m., flanked by a small group of police officers. By 6 p.m., shortly before the meeting began inside, the crowd had swelled to roughly 200, many watching the meeting on a huge screen above the doors.
Public comment stretched past midnight, with calls for Amezcua’s resignation echoing through the chamber.
Around 5:20 p.m., police began restricting entry to the room, saying they needed to count how many chairs were empty. At around 5:55 p.m., officers removed a woman trying to get in, prompting the crowd to chant “Let her in” and then “Let her go” as she was led out through a restricted exit. Several people angrily pointed out that open seats were still available. Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez later identified the woman as the daughter of immigrant rights activist Nativo Lopez.
Minutes later, when Amezcua walked in, she was met with loud boos. Residents took turns at the podium demanding answers and accountability, largely from Amezcua, who they said failed to stand up for frightened families and speak out against what they described as a militarized response to protesters.
In a letter sent to the Santa Ana Police Department last week, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged police officers violated state law by using rubber bullets, pepper balls and tear gas on protesters.
“SAPD’s indiscriminate use of kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents in response to protest conduct that was not ‘objectively dangerous’ and did not pose ‘a threat to life or serious bodily injury’” is impermissible under state law, wrote attorney Jacob Reisberg.
Enacted in 2021, AB 48 prohibits the use of kinetic energy projectiles such as rubber bullets or chemical agents such as tear gas and pepper spray for crowd control unless strict conditions of immediate threats and de-escalation are met.
In a statement posted to Facebook on June 9, the first day of protests against the ICE raids, Amezcua wrote: “We’re seeing pure violence and destruction of our city and businesses.”
“Please go home and remember this is our city, do not destroy it,” she wrote, adding pleas for people to “take care of one another” and that if arrested, people could face federal charges. “Pls stop the violence.”
Two days later, in an official statement issued June 11, Amezcua clarified she does not support the “ongoing immigration raids or the militarized escalation by the federal government in our streets,” and added that “protesting is not a crime.”
Still, many residents said it was too little, too late, and accused Amezcua of failing to show up for her constituents when they needed her most.
Santa Ana resident Lia Moran said she was attending her first council meeting on behalf of friends who were too afraid to appear.
“What Amezcua did felt like a very big backstab to our community,” she said. “The city really prides itself on its representation of people of color and immigrants, and I feel like it was a very big betrayal of her to keep silent on the matter and the next day, thank the Police Department for keeping us in ‘order.’”
Some of the residents who spoke became emotional, breaking down in tears as they shared personal stories. Others shouted in anger and called on Amezcua to step down. Several speakers used profanity in their remarks.
Diana Lopez, a lifelong Santa Ana resident and a psychologist in the Santa Ana Unified School District, said students in her care are terrified.
“They’re scared that they’ll come home to nobody,” she said, her voice shaking. “Our district has started to cancel some of the summer field trips. Some of our students have never left the city and these field trips matter to them, but the fear of deportation is very big right now.”
During the council meeting, Amezcua said she had heard the speakers’ messages.
“I understood that when I ran for mayor, that it was going to be good, bad sometimes, I was going to do things right, do things wrong, I was going to do things people don’t like, I was going to do things people do like,” she said. “But I just want to be really clear, unequivocally, that I do not support what is happening in our city, and I never will.
“I can tell you as mayor of the city, I do not support ICE. I do not want the National Guard in our city,” she added. “I do want people to go to downtown businesses. I do want you to feel safe in your home. I don’t want families torn apart.”
A Change.org petition calling for Amezcua’s recall had gathered 5,337 signatures as of noon Wednesday. However, it is not an official route to a recall election. Under California law, a recall must go through a formal procedure overseen by the city clerk, starting with a notice of intention and followed by collecting a required number of signatures from registered voters.
Throughout the night, multiple speakers raised concerns about the visible presence of federal law enforcement in Santa Ana, saying it has left the community on edge. Some pointed to what they saw as a missed opportunity by city leaders to provide more transparency: the City Council had considered a proposal to require police to publicly post ICE courtesy alerts within 48 hours of receiving them, but ultimately shelved the proposal Tuesday night in closed session.
At a previous council meeting, Amezcua had suggested city officials keep a low profile to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the federal government amid the Trump administration‘s immigration crackdown.
But Anna Cecilia Fierro, a Ward 3 resident and public policy student at Cornell University, said staying quiet won’t protect the community.
“We are a community of predominantly immigrant and Latino residents. We cannot put our heads down, simply not wave a Mexican flag at a protest, because the reality is that our community is a target. Regardless of what we do, we will stand out. Our race will never slide under the radar,” Fierro said.
Speakers called on Amezcua to get ICE out of Orange County and remove the National Guard from downtown Santa Ana. But City Attorney Sonia Carvalho clarified that the city has no authority to stop ICE agents from entering or operating within its boundaries or to force federal agents to leave.
Amezcua also emphasized that she has no authority over ICE or the National Guard, and instead urged the community to focus on pushing for immigration reform.
“I, the mayor, did not call ICE in, did not call the National Guard in,” she said. “I cannot make them leave. I cannot, and I wish I could.”