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Los Angeles Times
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
‘We are in a crisis': Santa Ana creates emergency fund for families harmed by ICE raids
As immigration raids continue to sweep through Santa Ana's car washes and Home Depot parking lots, spreading fear across the 77% Latino community, the city has created a $100,000 fund to help affected families cover basic necessities such as food, rent and utilities. The emergency fund was proposed by Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who said that the city is in a crisis because of ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Santa Ana's sister city of Sahuayo in Michoacán, Mexico, has offered an additional $50,000 gift to assist with the initiative, she said. 'This is about the needs of our community,' Amezcua said at Tuesday's City Council meeting. 'If the father or mother who is the breadwinner is taken from their home, we do not want them to lose their residence.' The proposal marked a sharp shift for the mayor, who has faced calls to resign over her silence at the outset of President Trump's immigration crackdown in Southern California in early June. During last week's City Council meeting, more than a hundred frustrated residents flooded the public comment period, with many lambasting Amezcua for her response to immigration raids and related protests and criticizing the Santa Ana Police Department's use of force on demonstrators. Amezcua initially proposed creating a $1-million aid program by canceling eight city-sponsored events: Fourth of July, Chicano Heritage Festival, Fiestas Patrias, Noche de Altares, Tet Festival, Santa Ana Fun Run, Summer Movie Series and Juneteenth. 'We've seen in other cities where they have large events and ICE shows up. The troops are going through the parks and taking our families,' she said. 'I do not want to have any large events where they can come and harm or take our families.' But several council members opposed the idea, saying that it is important to continue celebrating the community's culture and noting that many of these events are months away, when ICE may not be as active. 'I'm not going to be supportive of defunding cultural events in the brownest city in Orange County and making the public choose between celebrating our culture or giving mutual aid,' said Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez. 'We should be doing both.' Hernandez pointed out that Santa Ana is the only city in the country to have a Chicano Heritage Festival celebrating the contributions of trailblazing journalist Ruben Salazar and the only city in Southern California to host a Fiestas Patrias celebrating Mexican independence. 'I don't think it is the right thing to defund these events.' The council then embarked on a heated hourlong debate over where to pull money to create the fund. Hernandez suggested using money allocated for vacant positions in the Santa Ana Police Department. Amezcua, however, pushed back, calling his proposal reckless. Then, Councilmember David Penaloza proposed taking the $1 million from the city's rainy day fund, but city staff explained that the process for pulling from the reserves would require additional meetings and votes. Ultimately, the council settled on a compromise solution, pulling 10% of funding from city-sponsored events to get a $100,000 emergency fund running immediately. Councilmember Thai Viet Phan, who came up with the motion, added that staff should report back in 90 days or sooner on the efficacy of the fund and suggestions to increase its budget. During the public comment period, many residents spoke about the pain and trauma ICE raids were continuing to inflict on Santa Ana's community. 'We have operations happening at our local car washes, at our local Home Depots, our vendors are being taken. A lot is happening all the time and our team has never seen this sort of pain and suffering from our Santa Ana residents,' said Sandra De Anda, a staff member at the Orange County Rapid Response Network, which helps track immigration raids and connect affected families with resources. De Anda said she conservatively estimates that 20 to 30 people are being detained a day. 'I can confidently tell you that because I work with a very committed team of ICE watchers, dispatchers, attorneys, clergy members, and most of us are volunteers,' she said. Maria Ceja, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, wrote a letter in support of the fund, asking that the city craft a dignified and accessible process for families to receive aid. 'It is most important that the City provides financial support as families navigate life after their loved one has been illegally taken without warning,' she wrote. 'We are seeing that many of our neighbors that have been kidnapped are the primary breadwinners of their family. This completely destabilizes their households, especially given the current state of our economy as we continue to see prices raise while wages stagnate.' Santa Ana's fund follows in the footsteps of nearby Anaheim, which created the Anaheim Contigo website last month, offering resources to families affected by immigration enforcement and providing emergency assistance grants through a partnership with the Anaheim Community Foundation. During the meeting, council members also approved a motion to submit a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records pertaining to recent ICE operations in Santa Ana as well as a resolution calling on Congress members representing Orange County to advocate for the removal of immigration agents and the National Guard from the city.
Chicago Tribune
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Maria Lindsay set to leave Aurora deputy chief of staff post
Maria Lindsay, an Aurora deputy chief of staff, is set to serve out her last day with the city on May 13. That's the day Mayor-elect John Laesch, alongside newly-elected and reelected members of the Aurora City Council, are set to be sworn into office. Lindsay first joined the city of Aurora alongside outgoing Mayor Richard Irvin when he was first elected in 2017. She was later promoted to be one of the city's two deputy chiefs of staff alongside Alex Voigt. However, Lindsay's first day with the city was not her first time working for Irvin — she previously worked at his law firm starting in 2008, she told The Beacon-News. It took a while, she said, to get used to calling the man she had worked with for so long 'mayor.' Her time at the city has been a journey, but a fun one, according to Lindsay. She said this feels like 'a breakup that never ends' looking back on all the things she has done with the city. Since getting promoted to deputy chief of staff in 2022, Lindsay has helped to manage half of all city departments, with the other half under Voigt. While Voigt took on more legislative responsibilities, Lindsay said she worked more on the community engagement side. One of the things Lindsay has discovered she is passionate about, she said, is economic development. She has learned a lot about it, including how an idea starts and leads to a big project like a new restaurant being completed, she said. 'It's going to be fun to be able to drive and say, 'Oh, we worked on this. We worked on that,'' Lindsay said. One thing Lindsay said she is going to miss about her job is dealing with residents' concerns. Between her and Deputy Mayor Guillermo Trujillo, she said they would take turns handling anything going on in the community. Lindsay said she is also sad she will no longer be the liaison to the city's Education Commission because there are so many new initiatives that are being worked on. Being one of the liaisons to the city's Fiestas Patrias celebration has also been one of Lindsay's big accomplishments, she said. But when asked what her proudest accomplishment is, she said it is 'where we are and everything that we've done' and pointed out successes in public safety, education and the economy. 'When I start talking about what I love the most, I start from the downtown and then I just kind of pick a corner,' Lindsay said. 'Every corner and every part of the city … the Irvin administration has touched or has made a difference.' Irvin always has a vision, and he hasn't stopped since day one, according to Lindsay. She said that, as soon as one thing was complete, he was already on to the next thing. At an event honoring outgoing Mayor Richard Irvin and many from the mayor's office on Tuesday night, Irvin said he has worked with Lindsay going on 17 years, and when she recently reminded him that they soon will no longer see each other every day, it scared him a little bit. During her speech at the event, Lindsay thanked 'all my new friends, all my old friends, all of the city staff.' And specifically to the mayor's office staff, she said, 'Oh God, it's been fun.' There is a friendship among those who work in the mayor's office, Lindsay told The Beacon-News, and everyone fits together like a puzzle to make it all work. She said the various tragedies the city has had to deal with over the course of Irvin's administration, such as the Henry Pratt mass shooting and the COVID-19 pandemic, brought everyone together. The people she works with are what she'll miss the most from this job, she said. 'I feel like we have such an amazing team, not just here in the mayor's office but also as a whole,' Lindsay said. One thing Lindsay won't miss, she said, is working late nights and weekends, especially as a single mother of two children. She's looking forward to getting that time back, especially since summer break is coming up, she said. She'll be taking a break with her children this summer, she said, but she feels like she will start to miss her job once her children go back to school. Although Lindsay said she doesn't have anything else lined up yet, she wants to stay in Aurora, the city she is passionate about and calls her hometown.
