CHULA VISTA DROPPED CERTIFICATION AS ‘WELCOMING CITY’ FOR IMMIGRANTS, REFUGEES
City Council to meet, discuss possible recertification effort
In 2019, Chula Vista became the first community in California to be certified by a national nonprofit as a “welcoming city” for immigrants and refugees. The designation, the city declared at the time, would give it a competitive advantage that could attract a global workforce and businesses whose values embrace inclusion.
But when the certification by Welcoming America ended in December 2022, City Manager Maria Kachadoorian and former Mayor Mary Casillas Salas decided not to renew it “because of staff priorities” to launch two other inclusion efforts, the city said in a statement. They did so without consulting other members of the City Council, the public or the Human Relations Commission, which was charged with implementing the program. Casillas Salas could not be reached for comment.
Several residents and advocates said the move disregards extensive community efforts and a unanimous City Council vote in 2019 approving Chula Vista’s implementation plan.
“It’s disappointing that Chula Vista no longer holds the status of a ‘welcoming city,’ ” said resident Alex Romero. “However, I think the important part is not the label but rather the policies and support Chula Vista provides for immigrants. There should be full transparency for why this decision was made.”
The decision boils down to staff needing more time to focus on new local efforts, but the city recognizes that “we blew it,” said city spokesperson Anne Steinberger, who worked on the certification process.
“When I go to the city manager with, ‘Here’s a recommendation for how we address something’ and we discuss it to make sure that it meets the goals of whatever the project is, we don’t want to do those just quickly,” she recently told Human Relations commissioners. “I agree that it would have been better to have let you know in October, November that this was the plan going forward and let’s have a conversation.”
Mayor John McCann declined to comment on the decision to forgo recertification but said a public discussion is expected at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Deputy Mayor Jose Preciado is proposing the creation of an ad hoc committee that can look at the issue.
“My hope is that we can understand: Does the certification cause anything or does the absence of certification cause anything,” he said.
Welcoming America sets a comprehensive road map for municipalities to build more equitable communities and foster connections between residents and immigrants. It also sets benchmarks to keep local governments accountable. The
process is a rigorous one, involving a review of citywide policies and programs in areas like health care, education and public safety.
The city faced some questions about whether it was adhering to the program’s principles after Welcoming America received a complaint about Chula Vista’s surveillance policies in 2021.
The organization said that when it first certified Chula Vista, it was unaware that the city had previously allowed law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to access data gathered by its Automated License Plate Reader program.
“Had we known that this information was being shared, the assessment would have been non-complaint,” Melissa Bertolo, director of the Welcoming program, wrote to Steinberger in a 2021 letter.
The organization did not strip the city of its designation, however, because Chula Vista stopped sharing license-plate-reader data and vowed to create a privacy protection policy.
Before being recertified for another three years, Welcoming America told Chula Vista it would have to address the “clear mistrust between community members and the Chula Vista Police Department” as a result of its surveillance policies. The city would also have to pay a $6,000 fee and undergo reassessment
of the nonprofit’s standards to ensure compliance, said Welcoming America spokesperson Lola Pak.
The city is now focusing on its Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion program, or JEDI, and the privacy protection and technology transparency policy, Steinberger said.
Last July, council members approved a $200,000 agreement with a consulting group to assess the city’s practices, both as an organization and how it serves the community, and find ways it can become more diverse and inclusive. The implementation of a plan is expected to begin in September.
The privacy protection policy, approved last year, will govern how the city uses technology and protects residents from data collected by its surveillance equipment. A city commission that would provide oversight
of these technology systems has yet to be formed.
Despite forgoing recertification, the city said it continues to implement priorities outlined in its Welcoming City plan and that its “ongoing immigrant inclusion activities will be incorporated into the JEDI program.”
Margaret Baker, who helped Chula Vista with the certification process, said the JEDI program does not capture what the community wants when they call for being a “welcoming city” and that it does not have an oversight for which the city can be held accountable.
Human Relations Commissioner William Felix wonders if the JEDI program will meet the same fate as the Welcoming City plan.
The City Council meeting starts at 5 p.m.