Officials, residents declare San Leandro, Calif. a sanctuary city for immigrants

An overflow crowd of San Leandro residents came in full force on a rainy night to express their support on the sanctuary city bid for San Leandro. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

SAN LEANDRO, California — A San Francisco East Bay city became the newest sanctuary for immigrants in the United States after its council members unanimously voted for a resolution not to serve as an immigration enforcer.

One of the oldest cities in the United States, San Leandro City in California, incorporated in 1872, followed the path of neighboring cities Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco in being a sanctuary city that would prohibit the use of municipal funds and resources for purposes of enforcing federal immigration laws.

Before an overflow crowd at a standing-room-only City Hall chamber, council members that included San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter, Councilmember Deborah Cox of District 1, Ed Hernandez of District 2, Vice Mayor Lee Thomas of District 3, Councilmember Benny Lee of District 4, Councilmember Corina Lopez of District 5, and Councilmember Pete Ballew of District 6 all voted in favor of the measure after hearing some 50 residents voice out their various reasons for supporting the resolution.

Tom Breckinridge (right) believes that San Leandro needs to stay as a welcoming and inclusive city. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“I am very happy that the students’ hard work in the Social Justice Academy (SJA) of San Leandro High School (SLHS) paid off,” gleefully uttered Erica Viray-Santos, a Filipina-American SLHS teacher of ten years and coordinator of SJA, whose hope for a city sanctuary ordinance was also bolstered with the vote result.

“We have been working on the campaign since November and didn’t expect a unanimous vote at both the school board and the city council meeting,” Viray-Santos reported.

San Leandro Police Chief Jeff Tudor reportedly vowed not send undocumented people to Immigration and Custom Enforcement or send information to the federal government. CONTRIBUTED

Viray-Santos, who traced her roots to Masantol, Pampanga, was proud that her SLHS youth worked hard to protect undocumented people, Muslims, people of color and everyone targeted by the administration of President Donald Trump. She was even prouder that they got the San Leandro Unified School District Board’s similar unanimous nod to make San Leandro schools sanctuary schools barely two weeks ago.

“The students have been working on the campaign which included an overwhelmingly supported online petition. A lot of the students are afraid of what are going to happen under President Trump. Nevertheless, they saw the importance of stepping up to protect one another and their communities and this campaign for sanctuary was something that has to be done,” Viray-Santos explained. “I supported all my students who are leading this campaign because I also come from a family of immigrants who came here from the Philippines.”

Similarly overjoyed was longtime San Leandro resident Brandon Brock who started a Facebook group dubbed Sanctuary City San Leandro.

Couple Fil-Am Alex Caloza (left) and Brandon Brock (right) worked hard together for the successful passage of resolution making San Leandro a sanctuary city. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“I am representing a lot of neighbors who are concerned after Donald Trump became president and targeted undocumented neighbors that lived in other neighborhoods as well. When I found that San Leandro was not a sanctuary city I knew that it would be something that our neighbors would feel strongly about,” Brock explained.

“So we went to the city council and spoke with city officials and they were interested,” recounted Brock of their early efforts. “San Leandro has always been a diverse and inclusive place in keeping with San Leandro values and that Trump’s election will negatively impact that to the detriment particularly of the undocumented immigrants and others in the so-called minorities.”

Brock also bared that they are also keenly keeping their eyes on Washington, DC as a New York Times article said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed policies on deportation, including deputizing local law enforcement or local police against illegal immigrants.

“The San Leandro police department is doing a good job of making us safe and they should not also be forced to become federal deportation officers. Let Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents do their jobs and let our local police with our local tax money do their jobs,” Brock urged.

Social Justice Academy coordinator of San Leandro High School Erica Viray-Santos (kneeling farthest left) assemble at the city hall chambers with her students and other groups supportive of the measure to make San Leandro a sanctuary city. CONTRIBUTED

Brock’s Fil-Am husband, Alex Caloza, was quick to say though that San Leandro Police Chief Jeff Tudor assured that the San Leandro police department does not send undocumented people to ICE or send information to the federal government.

Tudor was also quoted as saying that San Leandro police wants members of the immigrant communities to feel free to come to the police with their problems, report crimes and to come forward as witnesses.

“In the campaign for sanctuary city, we would like to emphasize that efforts of the Trump administration targeting immigrants is wrong and racist. We have to take a moral stand and say to immigrant communities in San Leandro that we support them whether they are documented or not. We want to

Younger San Leandro residents also made their presence felt in support of the measure for sanctuary city. CONTRIBUTED

make this a community where we live in where fear of deportation doesn’t tarnish the relationship of the community and the police as our police have better things to do than immigration law enforcement,” stated Caloza, whose parents are from Cagayan de Oro and Ilocos.

Actively supporting the measure was senior citizen Tom Breckinridge, a 69-year-old San Leandro resident for 17 years, who believes that the Trump government is beginning to turn the United States into a very isolationist nation.

“I don’t think that it is healthy for us or for the world. I truly believe that we are a global society and we need to be ready to be accepting of people coming from all walks of life from all over the world,” Breckinridge asserted.

“The urgency is that more orders are coming out from the national government right now to close down our borders and to keep away the people from all over and I think we need to stop that. I would love it if our own city of San Leandro continues to be a welcoming entity and community.”