City Council Challengers Respond to Illegal Immigration Questionnaire

1) What is your highest priority issue for the City? Second priority?

Frank Hotchkiss - Eliminating gangs and planning properly for ample parking and limited growth, density and building height.

Dan Litten - First, some semantics over the word "priority:" I agree that public safety and law enforcement are the most important functions of government. However, I think that's so obvious as to be a fairly uninteresting statement. My priorities listed below are the areas where I think the city should act differently and where a change could most easily, quickly and effectively make this city a better place to live.
Priorities:
1. Protecting our environment - especially where it intersects with human health - by improving our dangerously poor air quality and getting toxic chemicals off public lands, and discouraging their use on private lands.
2. Promoting energy efficiency via transportation (promoting safe bicycle/pedestrian traffic) and via property management (e.g., improve new building efficiency; stop air conditioning City buildings).

Dale Francisco - Public safety is my first priority. Second is neighborhood preservation and representation.

Michelle Giddens -

Public safety including youth violence, vagrancy, emergency preparedness and traffic safety.

Protecting our local environment including cleaning our oceans, beaches, creeks, and streets as well as maintaining healthy wildlife and botanical diversity. Preventing unnecessary growth impacts, requiring use of renewable energy and increased education focused on recycling, conservation (water, electricity, chemicals, packaging, composting etc) and product choices available to replace chemical cleaners, gardening products, beauty products, building materials etc.

2) Do you feel that the accommodation and tolerance of illegal immigration contributes significantly to any of the City’s problems such as public safety, gang culture, graffiti and vandalism, prison overcrowding, court costs, hospital crowding and quality , health, general services (emergency, police, fire), housing, environment, over-development, entitlement costs, revenue drain and is it a matter that the City should pay any attention to at all?

Frank Hotchkiss - Illegal immigration is the elephant in the corner of the room that no one wants to talk about. Its effects on Santa Barbara are indeterminate, but since some 35,000-50,000 illegals are believed to be in Santa Barbara County, those effects will be significant.
Police Chief Cam Sanchez has said that illegals are worried about deportation. They therefore do their best to avoid contact with the authorities, including the police. In other words, they avoid criminal activity. He doesn't see illegals as a problem in Santa Barbara, therefore.
However, a significant number of prisoners in our state system are illegals, which contradicts the chief's view, although he is presumably correct at the local level.Mayor Blum has told me she thinks illegals are a considerable drain on our health systems. I have no way of verifying, but suspect she is correct. Insofar as gangs are concerned, the police (officers on the street) told me recently that there is a new gang starting up in Santa Barbara that doesn't speak English, and therefore is clearly comprised of illegals, perhaps from South America.
In any case, gangs are gangs, whatever their source, and need to be dealt with decisively. Santa Barbara should be a gang-free town.

Dan Litten - Yes to all of the above. Regarding local health care, our county's healthcare facilities and systems are straining at the seams, and I've seen illegal immigrants receive medical care while uninsured or poor U.S. citizens have certainly at times gone without. (Outside our area, a UCLA nephrologist noted that one-third of his dialysis patients had just arrived from outside the country after being told they needed help available in the United States.) Illegal immigration obviously contributes to crime. I myself was a victim of a hit-and-run by a probable illegal immigrant drunk driver last week, later taken into custody by our police department. Less anecdotally, the Civil Grand Jury estimated that illegal immigrants make up 10-20% of County Jail inmates. Regarding development, housing and the environment, illegal immigration makes up a significant part of our county population. Excluding all immigration - legal and otherwise - California's population is actually declining. Any topic of such wide-ranging impact deserves City attention.

Dale Francisco - Illegal immigration imposes costs on society. Though most of the responsibility for enforcing immigration law lies with the federal government, the city certainly should cooperate with federal immigration authorities in an effort to reduce those costs.


Michelle Giddens -

Yes, to a degree. For more info please refer to my web site: www.sbforgiddens.com

Illegal immigration is the MOST IMPORTANT National issue we face. It is a lesser problem in Santa Barbara, although it is estimated that 1 in 5 in CA are illegal immigrants. We can't afford to take care of their health care and education cost but at the same time we can't afford to mistreat them. California's (and Santa Barbara's) economy is dependent on illegal workers and there is a symbiotic nature to the current situation. One thing I don't want is for businesses to have to take on the responsibility for screening their workers.

I do want the illegal people to get state ID cards of some sort. We have to document them and include them in the tax base. We have to know how many there are and where they are. It is the first step and it needs to be done. I don't want us to give them all the benefits of citizenship, but I do want them to be treated humanely. So, I'm straddling the fence. I don't want a person to be given citizenship by some new act of Congress. I think they should have to be registered for at least 5 years and show a record of paying taxes and obeying the laws during that time. It's the best I can come up with.

Although I don't have any statistics, and you may prove me wrong.....it has been my experience (having lived my entire life in California and Texas) that the vast majority of illegal's are here because they wanted to make a better life for themselves and they are hard working, loyal, trustworthy and grateful. Immigration status not with standing, I see them as law abiding people who have an exceptional work ethic. These are the ones who don't want to risk the chance of achieving the American dream by breaking our laws. I have hired hundreds of Hispanics in my lifetime and that has been my experience.

3) Should graffiti abatement be at the City's expense, or should it be paid for by the affected property's owner or community volunteers as is currently the case?

Frank Hotchkiss - On public property, erasing graffiti should be a city responsibility. On private property, it should be the property owner's.

Dan Litten - It ultimately should be a City responsibility - especially as the great bulk of graffiti is on City property - but there's also room to seek out volunteers as well. I remove graffiti in my neighborhood and find many passers-by who seem to think it's a great idea. With more publicity, I think the City could find more volunteers.

Dale Francisco - We're all in this together. Unfortunately, the direct cost of graffiti removal, like the cost of repairing any other act of vandalism, falls on the property owner, whether the property owner is the city, a private individual, or a business. The best thing the city can do is to help reduce the level of gang activity, which is the major source of graffiti
vandalism.

Michelle Giddens -

The City should encourage and support the volunteer system as much as possible. I think we can even get businesses to participate through a barter system so that volunteers can actually earn discounted services based on the number of hours they contribute. A volunteer could shop at any number of stores and receive a "Community Volunteer Discount." All transactions could be traced through a magnetic "CVD" card. There would be fair limits etc. I think we could apply this system to a number of other programs and services. It may be a way to help public servants and/or a way to encourage owners of rental properties to maintain reasonably priced rental units.

Honestly, I am not familiar with the current system, but I am ready to learn. I am 100% confident that we can achieve a win/win solution to this particular issue...and many others!

4) Should Santa Barbara remain an undeclared “Sanctuary City” with a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding immigration status?

Frank Hotchkiss - Illegal immigrants are immigrants who entered the country illegally, or who overstayed their visas. We should not encourage illegal activity in Santa Barbara, and the city should not have the reputation of being a de facto "sanctuary city".

Dan Litten - I don't know if it's fair to call it a "Sanctuary City," but I don't support the concept of being a "Sanctuary City" and think the City should support observance and enforcement of immigration laws.

Dale Francisco - My understanding is that the police are legally prohibited from enquiring about immigration status unless someone is being booked for a crime. There are legitimate concerns about civil liberties that must be weighed in the balance.

Michelle Giddens - Yes, please see answer below and www.sbforgiddens.com



5) Should immigration enforcement be proactive, reactive, or non-existent? Should we wait until a crime is committed such as a rape, child molestation, murder, kidnapping, drunk driving accident, identity theft, drug manufacture and distribution, prior to investigating a person’s immigration status? If an illegal alien is caught in a crime, what should be done? Should we take other preventative steps such as workplace investigation?

Frank Hotchkiss - Ultimately, the U.S. must deal with illegal immigration on a federal basis. Cities that have chosen to take a stand, because of the federal government's lack of action to date, have seen their illegal populations depart voluntarily, presumably for other places in the U.S. even when these cities' new local laws have been challenged by private groups in court. The jury, literally, is still out on these cases.
If Santa Barbara chooses to make it clear that illegal immigrants are not welcome, it must be prepared for the effects of that decision: less traffic, less pollution, fewer students in public and private schools, higher construction and other non-skilled labor-related costs, less pressure on the rental market (and probably therefore reduced rental prices), perhaps fewer entry-level condo/home buyers, and a lack of unskilled labor which may or may not be satisfied by student employment.
If someone who is arrested proves to be illegal, they should be tried for the crime for which they are arrested, and then deported regardless of outcome due to the fact that they broke the law previously by illegally entering the U.S.

Dan Litten - I tentatively support the idea of proactive enforcement, including of workplace investigation. This would need careful implementation to remain targeted enough to be reasonably cost-effective. There are problems with this approach, however. First, practically, I don't think the City has the staffing or training for such an effort. Second, Jim Anderson raised the issue of immigration enforcement during his sheriff's campaign last year and many law enforcement officials proclaimed it a dangerous idea for local police. I'd certainly listen to their views before starting any new program. If an illegal alien is caught, ICE needs to be notified.

Dale Francisco - The most proactive step is border enforcement--a federal responsibility. Illegal aliens convicted of serious crimes should serve their sentences and then be deported.

MIchelle Giddens - City immigration enforcement should be non-existent at this time. We don't have the resources to enforce it, our economy relies on their labor, and we don't want to create an exodus or upheaval or fear/anger driven retaliation or law suits.

However, if an illegal commits a crime they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and our Justice system must make those rulings and I support deportation.

6) Do you feel the City has any obligation to cooperate with and/or assist Federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

Frank Hotchkiss - Yes.

Dan Litten - Yes. We should all be on the same team.
(Although ICE has not always appeared eager for cooperation or assistance -
see http://article.nationalreview.com
/?q=YjRiYzRlYTM4ZjlhOThjYmRlNDUzNjQ3NjRmY2RlZGY=
or see 2007 Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury report "Illegal Immigration and the Detention System")

Dale Francisco - The city has an obligation to cooperate with any federal law enforcement agency.

Michelle Giddens - We should cooperate if the request is reasonable.



7) Should we adopt an immigration policy similar to the Illegal Immigration Relief Act passed by Hazleton, PA (see link below)? If not, why not?
http://www.smalltowndefenders.com/public/node/6

Frank Hotchkiss - See #5 above.

Dan Litten - The specifics of the Hazleton law have landed it in expensive lawsuits, and the outcome of all this should be understood before jumping onboard. In particular, I don't know that it will ever be practical to ask landlords to understand immigration status. However, I support the idea of the City working to improve immigration compliance. It certainly seems that we could, at a minimum, expect City contractors to follow immigration law, especially as the "Living Wage" was passed to pay these workers above-market rates. The "No Match" federal rule (also currently tied up in court) may partially facilitate a similar result.

Dale Francisco - I'm skeptical of immigration laws that push the burdens of enforcement primarily onto landlords and small businesses.

Michelle Giddens - Absolutely not. This has created more problems and hurt local businesses and property owners. The most significant source of income our City has comes from tourism. We need to appreciate that although there are extreme costs associated with illegal immigration, including population increases, education and health care. There are also significant benefits. We need a way to provide ID's to illegal's, collect taxes on their income and begin to assimilate them into the community.

Optional bonus question:
Any other ideas, solutions to the public safety issue that have not already been incorporated by the City?

Dan Litten - I don't accept the idea of focusing only on violent crime. If we don't have enough police to take care of serious crime and also manage of traffic enforcement, noise complaints, litter, graffiti, etc., then we need more police. We shouldn't need to write off "quality of life" policing.

Dale Francisco - We need more police.