Fullerton City Council is set to consider joining a multi-city and state lawsuit against the federal government for authorizing unlawful actions taking place in local jurisdictions by masked, unidentified ICE agents without warrants or due process. Several of these actions have occurred in Fullerton.

Seventeen states including California have joined the lawsuit. Los Angeles and 7 other LA County cities have joined. In Orange County – Anaheim and Santa Ana have voted to join and others are considering joining. For details on Orange County cities read “Orange County’s Largest Cities Take a Stand Against ICE Sweeps” by Hosam Elantra at Voice of OC https://voiceofoc.org/2025/08/orange-countys-largest-cities-take-a-stand-against-ice-sweeps/

In Fullerton – whether the decision should take place behind closed doors or in an open public council session is being questioned. Currently the discussion is scheduled for the closed session at 4pm, Tuesday, August 19 at Fullerton City Hall, 303 W. Commonwealth (at Highland).

In previous years when similar subjects came before the council they were discussed in open meetings and drew overflow crowds of citizens – resulting in marathon sessions lasting past midnight. (Read report of April 2018 below). Perhaps the effort to discuss the issue in closed session is an attempt to avoid that scenario. However, only Councilmember Zahra and Mayor Protem Charles, (the two who asked for the item to be agendized), have spoken up against ICE’s illegal actions in Fullerton.

Councilmember Zahra and Mayor Protem Charles both attended the recent event in support of our community members under attack. Local Police representatives were also present and spoke in support of the community. Event organizers invited Mayor Jung – but he failed to attend.

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Open Letter to City Council: Consideration of joining lawsuit against ICE tactics needs to be during REGULAR not CLOSED Council meeting

Dear Mayor Jung, Mayor Pro Tem Charles, Council Member Zahra, Council Member Dunlap, Council Member Valencia, City Manager Manfro, Deputy City Manager Perez, City Attorney Jones and City Clerk Williams,

The consideration of the agenda item to join the lawsuit regarding ICE’s unlawful and unconstitutional actions should not be in a CLOSED  Council meeting. 

Many years ago, the Council considered a related agenda item to consider joining President Trump’s first Attorney General Jeff Session’s lawsuit against California’s Value’s Act (protects sanctuary cities and mandates that local law enforcement not assist federal immigration agencies except in certain specific exceptions) was during a regular (NOT CLOSED) Council meeting. The public turned out against it in such overflow capacity that they had to open the library for people to be able to wait to speak. Public commenters against this item spoke for hours (past midnight). I truly believe that it was this public outcry against this measure and in support of our community’s immigrants that it was voted down. At that time, Mayor Pro Tem Sebourn, who helped put it on the agenda, ended up not voting for it.

The current agenda item needs to be discussed during a REGULAR Council meeting in the OPEN for ALL to participate. How each Council member discusses the item and votes, needs to be on PUBLIC RECORD. It does not have to be, nor should it be, a CLOSED session item. It was not for the other past Fullerton issue and it is not discussed during closed session in other cities which have, and are, considering this and other actions against ICE’s illegal, unconstitutional tactics.

This must be in the OPEN and NOT HIDDEN in a closed session meeting.

Contact Fullerton City Officials: 
•Mayor Jung, Mayor Pro Tem Charles, Councilmember Zahra, Councilmember Dunlap, Council Member Valencia: CouncilMembers@cityoffullerton.com

Fred.jung@cityoffullerton.com
Shana.Charles@cityoffullerton.com
Ahmad.zahra@cityoffullerton.com
Nick.dunlap@cityoffullerton.com
Jamie.valencia@cityoffullerton.com

•City Manager Manfro: Eddie.manfro@cityoffullerton.com
•Deputy City Manager Perez: Daisy.perez@cityoffullerton.com
•City Attorney Jones: rdj@jones-mayer.com
•City Clerk Williams: Lucinda.williams@cityoffullerton.com

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Past Documentation from 2018: 
April 2018, the Fullerton City Council voted during a regular council meeting not to take a stance on the lawsuit filed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions against California’s sanctuary laws, including the California Values Act (SB 54).

Frontpage of Mid April 2018 Fullerton Observer celebrating that Fullerton City Council majority chose not to join the federal lawsuit against Sanctuary States like California. Flash forward to 2025 – and Fullerton is set to decide to join other cities, counties, and states in a lawsuit against the federal government’s illegal ICE tactics.

• “Fullerton Will Not Join Federal Lawsuit Against State” (Fullerton Observer Article Mid April 2018)

•April 3, 2018 Regular City Council Meeting agenda see Regular Business #3
https://fullerton.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3466799&GUID=FEB01FB8-867E-4ECA-8A55-4B80F27D72B9

•Visit the ACLU – for more information on immigrant rights and lawsuits

Immigrants’ Rights

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