Last week, several organizations such as CHIRLA, CARECEN, the ACLU Foundation in South Los Angeles, NDLON, Public Counsel and dozens of others joined together to ask the Council to take action and protect immigrants from the former head of the Sheriff’s Department. of Los Angeles County, Jim McDonnell, selected by Mayor Karen Bass to be the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.
In a letter they sent to Council members who will decide whether the former sheriff turns out to be the head of the LAPD, they expressed concern because they said McDonnell colluded with ICE and the Trump administration in their efforts to carry out mass deportations.
On average, each year the Sheriff’s Department transferred thousands of Angelenos who were about to be released from their jails to ICE to be removed from the country. As a result, many families were separated not at the border but here in Los Angeles.
What’s more, they reminded council members that former Sheriff McDonnell was one of the voices that spoke out against the law that turned California into a Sanctuary state, which limits cooperation between police agencies with federal authorities. migration.
The inevitable question is: why have the leaders of pro-immigrant organizations reacted until now? Where were they? For months it was known that former Sheriff McDonnell was among the three finalists to be director of the LAPD. Why didn’t they come out and support the Latino Bobby Arcos, or the African-American Emada Tingirides? No! They stayed quiet, very quiet. They fell asleep.
Now we have bad news for our immigrant leader friends. It’s already too late.
Four of the five council members on the Public Safety Committee voted in favor of McDonnell being chief of the LAPD. Mónica Rodríguez, who is the president of said committee, John Lee, Tim McOsker and Traci Park gave him a pat of approval.
The only vote against was that of councilor Hugo Soto-Martínez.
Mayor Karen Bass even congratulated Councilwoman Mónica Rodríguez for the votes in favor of her selection.
Many are left wondering whether Mayor Bass was unaware of former Sheriff McDonnell’s anti-immigrant background. Of course, you should know them, if they did a thorough investigation. Therefore, it is strange that she still chose him, because if the mayor is so opposed to Trump, but has brought in as head of the LAPD someone who in some way emulates her policies on immigration, what does that give us to understand?
And not everything stops there. Hiring former Sheriff McDonnell could cost Angelenos a precious $507,509 per year. That is the amount proposed by the Board of Police Commissioners. The salary will have to be approved by the City Council. Oh and wait a minute, that nice sum does not include benefits or potential bonuses.
On November 8, the full Council will vote to make McDonnell chief of the LAPD. If all goes as planned, he will be sworn in on November 14 with a salary higher than any other police chief in the country. Moment! But we are not on the verge of a financial crisis in the municipality.
Childishness in the Council
Guess who were the only two Los Angeles council members who did not sign the resolution marking November 1 as Fernando Valenzuela Day, the legendary Los Angeles pitcher who died on October 19. November 1 was chosen because that day would have turned 64 years old.
The two councilors who did not sign their signatures on the resolution were the rookie councilors Eunisses Hernández and Hugo Soto-Martínez. The reason, we can infer, is because the person who brought to the Council the proposal to declare one day a year to honor the “Bull of Etchohuaquila” was his political arch-enemy, Councilman Kevin de León.
Like it’s time for these two councilors to put aside their own political agenda for the good of the city of Los Angeles, it was too childish. Maybe they signed the resolution later, but they would never do it with Councilor De León present in the Town Hall.
He never apologized
And the campaigns ended while the council candidate, Ysabel Jurado for District 14, never apologized to the Los Angeles police for having cursed them. How odd! Some politicians or aspiring politicians demand a lot from their colleagues, but their harsh demands are not applied to themselves. They practice double standards policy.