Most OC cities silent as ICE raids escalate, survey finds

Most Orange County cities have taken no official action in response to federal immigration enforcement sweeps that accelerated last summer, according to a Voice of OC report by Chapman University student journalists who filed public records requests with all 34 cities in the county.

The findings reveal a fragmented local response across a county where immigration enforcement has intensified since June 2025 — leaving many immigrant residents, including a large Korean-American population, without official support from the cities where they live.

Of the four cities that created both aid funds and immigrant support resources, Anaheim stands out as the only city in Orange County posting daily immigration enforcement updates online. The city also launched an immigrant legal aid fund. Santa Ana — the county's only sanctuary city — has received $400,000 in its immigrant aid fund and revised its U-Visa policy to make it more accessible to affected residents, Voice of OC reported. "The City of Santa Ana is committed to protecting the dignity, safety, and rights of all residents, regardless of immigration status," city spokesperson Paul Eakins said.

Irvine created a $100,000 aid fund at its Feb. 24 City Council meeting, where Councilmember Betty Martinez-Franco cut to the point: "Let's call it how it is. They are coming for Brown people who speak Spanish, who work for privileged people here in Irvine," she said, according to Voice of OC. Costa Mesa created a $200,000 immigrant legal defense fund in September. Mayor John Stephens argued that detained immigrants lack basic due process. "If you are arrested for committing a crime — even if it is a crime you committed, even if you intend to plead guilty for that crime and it could be a horrific crime — you get representation provided to you by the government. These folks that are being detained … they have none of that," Stephens said.

Huntington Beach moved in the opposite direction. On Jan. 21, 2025 — the day after President Trump's inauguration — the city declared itself a non-sanctuary city. Then-Mayor Pat Burns framed it in terms of public safety: "We are going to provide the best safety for our citizens, plain and simple." Sandra De Anda, director of policy for the Orange County Rapid Response Network, offered a pointed counterargument to Voice of OC: "Because they are a bastion of conservatism, they refuse to acknowledge the humanity of non-citizens. They just honestly look very silly because they're breaking the law."

San Clemente, which took no official action to support immigrants, holds a contract with the Department of Homeland Security for surveillance cameras overlooking the coast. Mayor Rick Loeffler said the cameras target cartel-linked boat smuggling, and offered a broader explanation for the city's stance: "We live in a conservative town, the majority of the people in our city want immigration enforcement."

De Anda described the county-wide picture as one of deep-seated resistance. "We still have a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment in this county and throughout each city. There are very few cities to even have policies with the word immigrant in them throughout all of Orange County," she told Voice of OC.

Five cities — Garden Grove, Mission Viejo, Buena Park, Fullerton and Stanton — provided only informational resources, Voice of OC reported. Fullerton cited a projected $13.7 million budget deficit as its reason for not launching an aid fund. The investigation was conducted by Chapman University student journalists who filed public records requests with all 34 cities.