Hamilton has done it again

Editor, Following the April 3 City Council meeting in which Cam Hamilton pulled his suggestion to consider exempting the City of Porterville from SB 54, he has again added it to the agenda for the May 1 City Council meeting.

Some might be a bit clueless about SB 54 — it does not mean that any government entity would work against ICE — they just wouldn’t cooperate with them.

Immigration is a federal issue, not a state, county or city issue. The federal government is perfectly capable of conducting their business without using local resources that can be used more appropriately.

Would you want your Porterville PD officer off conducting immigration business, or patrolling our streets and keeping us safe?

SB 54 took effect in January and ICE has had no issues conducting their business in the Central Valley without this exemption.

Again, back to my point as discussed during the April 3 council meeting in which I discussed with council that Homeland Security entered the city of Santa Cruz under cooperation with local law enforcement to conduct one operation as agreed upon and took the opportunity to conduct additional operations which were not congruent with the values of that city, it’s clear that SB 54 has the best interests of the State of California and local governments in mind.

By exempting the City of Porterville, SB 54, it would foster fear for many, immigration status irrelevant.

Our school psychologist council member should be well aware of the psychological effect of instilling fear and separating families has on individuals, one would hope. I know he is “not worried about the ACLU thinks,” but I care about the rights of my fellow Portervillians. Immigrant rights are human rights. Do the right thing, Porterville City Council, because we are watching. Lisa Smith Porterville