Financial impact two valley cities may face over sanctuary city title

The City of Coachella voted on Wednesday night to officially become a sanctuary city. This makes it the second city in the valley to do so. Cathedral city voted to have that title back in May.

An overwhelming amount of support Wednesday night after Coachella city leaders voted unanimously, officially making Coachella a sanctuary city.

“the city has had policies since 2006 and those policies essentially spelled out what a sanctuary city does,” said Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez.

Cathedral city adopted the title in a 3 to 2 vote back in May, but with that title comes the risk of losing federal funding, especially for local law enforcement.

For Cathedral City that’s about $200,000, for the city of Coachella about $100,000.

Cathedral City Communications Manager, Chris Parman, said this week the city took steps to ensure the funding is still available.

“Our city attorney has certified, the definition of how Cathedral City has given itself as a sanctuary city complies with all federal rules.”

Other than that, Parman said nothing has changed.

“What it did was ease the concerns of our residents, many scared to go to the store, scared to do this because they thought maybe a police officer would check their citizenship.”

For the city of Coachella, there’s a different approach. They can ensure city workers don’t ask people in the community for citizenship status. When it comes to police, Coachella contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff’s department.

“With respect to my conversations with the captains, the policy here in Coachella is that they won’t ask for immigration status. Our captain has assured us they won’t have those practices,” Hernandez said.

In an earlier interview, Sheriff Stan Sniff weighed in on the issue.

“The sheriff back in 1978 banned its officers from enforcing or detaining their officers for immigration solely alone. What occurs normally is you take someone into custody for a state offense and then they may also be here undocumented and that presents the rub.”

While sanctuary status means local authorities won’t ask about immigration status, it doesn’t stop the border patrol and other federal agents from immigration enforcement.

If either Coachella or Cathedral City were to lose funding, which both Parman and Hernandez doubt, it wouldn’t be enough to impact city growth.

“We’re not reliant on cop grants that come from the department of justice. The impact to us is very minimal, if at all,” Hernandez said.

California has also been pursuing its status as a sanctuary state. If senate bill 54 makes its way to the governor’s desk and is signed into law, California will be a sanctuary state by September 15.