San Clemente declines to join Huntington Beach’s anti-sanctuary legal fight
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Citing key differences between the two cities, San Clemente City Council refused to back Mayor Steve Knoblock’s push to join Huntington Beach’s lawsuit over California’s “sanctuary state” law.
With President Donald Trump vowing mass deportations, Huntington Beach moved forward last month with a lawsuit challenging the California Values Act, which limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials.
Huntington Beach already lost a legal fight over the law in 2020 when the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s ruling in favor of the city. The California Supreme Court later declined to hear the case.
A majority of San Clemente council members did not seem eager to back up its fellow Orange County beach town.
“We don’t want to be Huntington Beach,” said Councilman Mark Enmeier to applause. “We … don’t want to get involved in national politics.”
The council unanimously passed Mayor Pat Burns’ resolution on Tuesday night, declaring Huntington Beach a nonsanctuary city.
San Clemente, unlike Huntington Beach, is not a charter city. It also does not have its own police force and is, instead, patrolled by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes released a statement on Jan. 27 clarifying his department’s role.
“The Orange County Sheriff’s Department does not enforce federal immigration law,” he said. “It is not part of our primary mission, and we remain focused on violations of state and local laws.”
In backing the push, Knoblock falsely claimed that 15 to 20 million immigrants entered the United States without authorization during the Biden Administration.
An estimated 11.7 million immigrants resided in the U.S. without documentation as of July 2023, according to the Center for Migration Studies.
Knoblock, who previously tried to declare San Clemente an abortion-free “sanctuary for life” city, argued that local politics has a role to play in federal immigration.
“Public safety is the number one issue in this community,” he said. “We’ve had panga [boats] showing up in Cypress Shores in organized events. This effort would simply strengthen the president’s effort to make this country safer.”
But Knoblock did not find support for the move, even among fellow conservative council members.
“This is a federal issue,” Councilman Victor Cabral said. “Part of what the administration has decided was to target violent criminal aliens. I think that’s appropriate, but it’s not a job for our city to get involved with.”
Cabral also clarified that he backed putting the issue on the agenda during the Jan. 14 council meeting solely for discussion and to have a staff report on it.
The debate ended on a contentious note when Knoblock railed against “a mindset in Sacramento that says we need to be a sanctuary city” and claimed that same mindset wanted to protect children who wanted to become “transvestites.”
With an audience in an uproar over the comments, council members voted 4-1 to table the lawsuit discussion without scheduling a rehearing.
Knoblock was the sole vote against it.
Organizers said they have tracked 250 businesses nationwide that were closed Monday in solidarity with immigrants.
San Clemente City Council also weighed another immigration effort championed by the mayor during the meeting.
According to a staff report, panga boats boarded by undocumented immigrants are landing on San Clemente’s shorelines more frequently. Knoblock wanted to explore a role for residents in monitoring the coast for such vessels.
“I’m not suggesting that the city become ICE or take on a federal government’s job,” he said. “What I’d like to see is … cameras that the public has access to that they can watch and look and if there’s a problem, they have the right the right number to call.”
U.S Border Patrol agents arrested nine Mexican nationals, including an unaccompanied minor, after a boat docked at Dana Point Harbor last month.
The mayor supported infrared cameras being mounted at San Clemente Pier and at coastal neighborhood association buildings in support of the move.
But involving residents in an immigration monitoring effort, particularly at nighttime, made other council members uneasy.
“I’m very much against the idea of having our own citizens who aren’t trained … seeing something on the monitor saying, ‘Oh, no, is that a whale or a panga boat?” Enmeier said. “We need to have trained professionals doing this.”
The council unanimously supported putting the number of Customs and Border Protection on the city’s website for residents to call if they come across an abandoned panga on the beach or see one approaching.
San Clemente will also contact CBP with an initial inquiry about adding new cameras but without any direction on residents monitoring them.
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