When Mayor Rex Richardson took a call recently from the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, he had a list of concerns: the president’s looming threat to cancel grants to cities like Long Beach, whipsawing tariffs upending Port operations and, of course, the wave of deportation operations that have sent a swath of his residents into hiding.
Mostly, though, Richardson said, they asked him about another one of his top priorities, Long Beach’s economic growth.
It was a microcosm of the competing priorities shaping Long Beach’s fraught relationship with the federal government — on one hand, asking for help, on the other, drawing battle lines in defense of immigrants.
“There’s really no playbook for this,” Richardson said of the raids. “How do you defend your residents from your government?”
Long Beach has already passed sanctuary city policies and years ago established a municipal deportation defense fund, making the city a leader in shielding its residents from Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportations, according to Richardson. But for many, this is not enough. Long Beach leaders have been pushed publicly by hundreds of protesters and urged privately by people in political circles to take a more combative stance.
Right now, city leaders are weighing whether to join a growing legal offensive against the Trump Administration.
After heavily armed federal forces swept through MacArthur Park in Los Angeles and a masked agent pointed a weapon at protesters in Pasadena, the mayors of those cities said they had no choice but to join the lawsuit filed by civil rights groups seeking to block raids they allege are targeted based on little more than someone’s skin color.
(The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called these accusations “disgusting and categorically FALSE.”)
“We made the determination as a city that we cannot have armed masked men who are not identifying themselves — who the federal government is refusing to confirm are federal agents — running around and conducting this type of activity that is dangerous and volatile,” Pasadena Mayor Victor M. Gordo said in an interview.
Los Angeles County, Paramount, Santa Monica, Culver City, Pico Rivera, Montebello, Monterey Park, and West Hollywood have also said they will seek to join the litigation.
Long Beach was asked to sign on, but won’t make a final decision until the City Council reconvenes, according to the city attorney. They’re currently on break until July 22.
State Sen. Lena Gonzalez said she sees a lack of urgency.
“We are not seeing an outspoken sentiment from the city, from the mayor,” she said.
Gonzalez, who was on the City Council before being elected to the state legislature, where she leads the Latino Caucus, wishes the city would do more, and she knows the mayor has been pushed in this direction behind the scenes as well.
“Over half of our community is immigrants and daughters and sons of immigrants,” said Gonzalez, who still represents Long Beach in the legislature. “And I don’t know why they’re not speaking up (for them),” Gonzalez said of city leaders.
The threat of retaliation may be one reason.
There’s a concern that joining the lawsuit or otherwise speaking out could “put another target on our cities,” said a neighboring mayor, who asked not to be named while his City Council considers joining the lawsuit.
In his discussions with other city officials, he said some have been hesitant to join the litigation for fear of retribution and the unknown legal costs. Plus, if the lawsuit prevails, even cities that aren’t party to it would benefit from any judge’s order limiting immigration raids, he said.
Nevertheless, he’s urging his City Council to sign on. This is a moment, he said, for a united front.
Richardson said he’s in favor of joining the lawsuit “if it works.”
“ICE has no place in Long Beach,” he said.