In response to the massive deportation campaign she’s overseen, the Long Beach City Council wants Congress to move forward with the steps necessary to remove Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
On an 8-0 vote (Councilmember Daryl Supernaw was absent), the council on Tuesday agreed to draft a resolution asking Congress to carry forward its investigation into federal immigration operations that have been carried out nationwide in the past year.
This investigation, announced in a press conference by Long Beach Congressman Robert Garcia on Friday, will review alleged abuses along with payments, contracts, gifts and “a massive grift” Garcia said he believes was developed between Noem and other members of the Trump administration. Any findings, officials said Friday, will work toward the goal of building a case for an impeachment vote on the Congressional floor.
The idea for a City Council’s resolution — a ceremonial vote of support — was brought forward by a trio of council members, Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, Mary Zendejas and Roberto Uranga.
In addition to asking for Noem’s impeachment, council members agreed the resolution should include language “urging an end to federal policies and enforcement operations that subject local communities to violence and harm, and affirming the City’s commitment to protecting civil rights, community trust, and the dignity of all residents.”
It’s a move made “not out of partisanship but out of necessity,” Thrash-Ntuk said. Council members condemned ICE’s tactics as unconstitutional, unsafe and harmful to the city of Long Beach.
This comes after federal immigration agents shot and killed two people last month in Minneapolis who were protesting their presence. Noem has faced an intense and increasingly bipartisan wave of scrutiny over her handling of the shootings, namely for defending the agents and seeking to portray those who were slain as “domestic terrorists.” Under pressure, she has agreed to some reforms, including a pledge to issue body cameras for immigration agents in Minneapolis.
In Long Beach, immigrant rights group Órale has recorded at least 19 immigration raids citywide since June 2025, and at least 87 people taken since the administration took office last January.
“We have been betrayed by our federal government,” said Councilmember Cindy Allen. She and other members spoke at length about the importance of their vote.
However, public speakers — more than a dozen — lobbed consistent criticism at the council. They said the gesture falls short of their demands for stronger action.
They pushed council members to call for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Others asked them to instruct first responders to block agents from operating in the city and pull business licenses for hotels that rent rooms to federal agents.
Some criticized what they saw as a lack of urgency over the council’s timing, considering immigration raids began locally in June.
In response, Mayor Rex Richardson said the city has advanced several measures against the crackdown. The city has enshrined and expanded its sanctuary city laws that bar cooperation with federal immigration agents and do not allow data sharing, even among city contractors.
Last summer, a multi-million dollar funding package was included in the 2025-26 budget that pays for legal and rental assistance to those affected by the immigration raids.
But any abolition of a federal agency, he said, must be decided at the federal level.
“Tonight is a very specific action, going on record formally as a major, top-ten city in California, adding our voice to a groundswell asking for accountability,” Richardson said. Once the resolution is drafted, the council will have to vote again to formally adopt it
At the mayor’s request, City Manager Tom Modica also clarified that the city has no “ability to influence what a hotel does in this city.”