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After violence by federal immigration agents rocked a North Long Beach neighborhood last month, a trio of city councilors say it’s time to revisit the city’s sanctuary policy and possibly add new protections. 

Among the 11 proposals to be introduced Tuesday by Roberto Uranga and other council members is one that could require city employees, including police, to record immigration enforcement operations when they are present. 

Another proposal calls for creating a public complaint portal for violations of the city’s sanctuary policy, known as the Long Beach Values Act, and a third would require permits — as L.A. County already does — for federal agents to use city property as staging areas. Other items focus on support for people affected by immigration enforcement, like offering free towing for cars or equipment left behind by those detained, as well as counseling to their families. 

The Values Act has changed several times since it was established in 2018. The Council in January 2025 added provisions that, among other things, blocked city vendors from sharing sensitive public data, expanded funding for deportation defense and trained city employees to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from nonpublic city property while establishing penalties for those who don’t comply. 

This newest request would see the city finish setting up a complaint portal the Council approved in August 2025. 

The proposal also asks for the City Council to take up a resolution to formally back federal inquiries into a North Long Beach incident on Oct. 17, in which a federal agent detained a U.S. citizen, allegedly breaking his arm in the process. 

In response, Mayor Rex Richardson filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security, while Rep. Robert Garcia called for an independent investigation.

The resolution by the City Council would also separately ask for an investigation into the incident by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the state’s justice department. 

In a call Wednesday, Richardson said he’s confident that ICE raids will be a “top priority” for Democrats following the midterm elections. Garcia is poised to take the majority chair of the House Oversight committee, a powerful investigative role with the ability to subpoena witnesses and launch investigations. 

“[Garcia’s] been very clear in all of our conversations that if this were to happen, this will be a priority … to hold them accountable and stop these activities,” Richardson said.

Quick sips of the latest news

  • Mayor Richardson on what a Democratic majority in Congress means for Long Beach: After “playing defense for the past two years,” Richardson says a Democratic-controlled U.S. House and Senate opens the way for Long Beach to see lower gas prices, cheaper housing and possible relief in the face of public healthcare cuts.  

    In the months ahead, he wants to see Democrats reroute funding from ICE operations to backfill healthcare cuts, citing the $800 million to be slashed annually from LA County’s health department — more than $2 billion through 2028 —  under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law by President Donald Trump last year. This could force up to 1.1 million Californians to lose their insurance coverage via Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. 

    About 120,000 residents in Long Beach, about 26% of the city’s population, are on Medi-Cal.

    “If Congress and the Senate and the House were to figure out how to defund that funding from ICE and put it toward healthcare, those are the kinds of things that would actually help our clinics and our community and create a lot more calm and a sense of safety for all of our residents,” Richardson said. 

    At the state and regional level: Long Beach now has a close ally in Governor-elect Xavier Becerra. 

    There’s also Richardson’s own ascension as the incoming chair of the Big City Mayors, which lobbies on behalf of the state’s 13 biggest cities.. Together, he said, this could steer larger agendas, and larger sums of money, towards things that Long Beach needs, like more affordable homes, rental assistance and mental health facilities that can handle those unable to stay in typical shelters.

  • The porcelain ‘Thrones’ will stay another year: Citing popular demand, the city will extend a contract to keep its four time-restricted “smart” toilets at DeForest Park, Belmont Pier and Harvey Milk Promenade Park at $285,000 a year. Each of the units, known as Thrones, includes a toilet, an urinal and a sink with an ADA-accessible ramp. Parks, Recreation and Marine officials say the restrooms have been heavily used, logging more than 123,000 bathroom breaks, and that 91% of users in a four-month pilot rated them “good” or “great.”

  • Renovations bound for Clark Avenue: The city and the Long Beach Community College District are close to finalizing an agreement that would see the district chip in roughly $532,000 for new sidewalks, curb, driveway, bus pad and mid-block bus shelter along Clark Avenue between Conant and Lew Davis streets, as part of a $7.8 million plan for the busy thoroughfare. You can view the list of improvements here.

  • Should seniors get free bus fare?: The Long Beach Advisory Commission on Aging is asking city leaders to explore a program to give free bus fare to residents 50 and older. They tie the recommendation to recent cuts to CalFresh and Medi-Cal, which they argue have strained senior living on fixed incomes. Older adults already receive discounted fares and a low-income program that provides 20 free rides a month, but the commission said that amounts to only 10 round trips. Long Beach Transit has said it lacks the cash to bear this change, so the city would need to find grant funding or some subsidy to cover it.
  • Long Beach is burying its next 50-year time capsule. Residents wanting to submit an item for consideration have until Dec. 1 to file this online form. Anxious to know what was in the last one? Check out our coverage. . 

  • We’ve launched a guide to help you prepare for a potentially historic El Niño rainy season. What else should we include? Hit reply and let me know.