New Mountain View City Policy Further Protects Immigrants

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — The city of Mountain View this week strengthened its policies concerning immigrant residents. According to a city news release, Mountain View City Council members voted unanimously in favor Tuesday of amending current city law to state that the city will not contribute to identity based registries; will not participate in detaining, relocating or interning individuals on the basis of religion, national origin or ethnicity; and will not enforce federal civil immigration laws.

Specifically, the City Council approved adding the following policy language:

“The City of Mountain View does not use resources to create, implement, provide investigation or information for enforcement, or otherwise assist or support any government program requiring the registration of individuals, creation of a database of individuals, and/or detention relocation or internment of individuals on the basis of religion, national origin, or ethnicity.” And: “It is neither the City of Mountain View’s mission nor role to enforce federal immigration laws. Members of the City’s Police Department will not detain or arrest any person on the basis of a person’s citizenship or status under civil immigration laws.”

Additionally, according to the news release, council members directed city staff to implement five action items, which include prohibiting city staff from requiring anyone to report their immigration status before providing city services, benefits or opportunities unless required by law; review all city policies to make sure information collected is limited; remove questions regarding immigration status from all city forms and applications unless required by law; make information about the City’s immigration policies easy to access and readily available; allow the use of country of origin documents for identification instead of requiring a U.S. driver’s license or identification card.

The new changes, which will be combined with the Equitable Communities Resolution approved May 23 by Mountain View City Council, further the city council's major goal to "Promote Strategies to Protect Vulnerable Populations and Preserve the Socioeconomic and Cultural Diversity of the Community," according to the news release.

More information about the Equitable Communities Resolution and other city initiatives to support local immigrant families is posted online at MountainView.gov/CommunityforALL.

Photo courtesy city of Mountain View