LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Following meetings with immigrant rights groups over the weekend, Mayor Karen Bass and District Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto are working Wednesday to expedite the release of a proposed “sanctuary city” ordinance to the City Council.

With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in January, LA’s immigrant communities are bracing for a promised crackdown on undocumented immigrants. While the city of Los Angeles has banned the use of its resources to assist federal immigration authorities in recent years, a sanctuary ordinance would formally codify such policies.

“Especially in the face of growing threats to immigrant communities in Los Angeles, I stand with the residents of this city,” Bass said in a statement. “This moment calls for urgency.”

The mayor added that protecting immigrants makes “our communities stronger and our city better.” She also thanked Feldstein Soto for his work and said she looks forward to working with Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Council members Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez and others to implement protections for communities of immigrants from the city.

“Solidarity is action, not rhetoric. Los Angeles is united,” Bass said in his statement.

Former Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive order in 2019 providing protections to the immigrant community. In addition, the Los Angeles Police Department requires its officers not to inquire about the immigration status or make arrests related to the legal status of a migrant, which is outlined in Special Order 40.

In part, the proposed sanctuary ordinance would enshrine such protection on the city’s books.

The ordinance would also prohibit “the use of any city resources, property or personnel for any federal immigration law enforcement,” as well as the city’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities in the “execution of their duties” with respect to law enforcement immigration.

The City Council, in June 2023, instructed the city prosecutor to prepare a draft ordinance.

On Monday, Trump’s new “border czar,” Tom Homan, said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends’: ‘Nothing will stop us from deporting criminal migrants’.

He also addressed sanctuary jurisdictions, noting that “If we can’t get assistance from New York City, we may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City. Because we will go to work with or without you. .”

He also suggested that the president withhold federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions.

Homan was the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the first Trump administration.

Pedro Trujillo, director of organizing for the Coalition for Immigrant Human Rights, told City News Service that LA’s proposed ordinance is something his group has “always supported” and is now working to accelerate with Trump’s return to the House White.

Trujillo noted that when Trump first took office in 2017, he made some administrative changes that affected immigrants, and CHIRLA expects similar actions this time around.

“That’s why it’s important for the city to pass the sanctuary ordinance and really codify it into law,” Trujillo told CNS.

Regarding Homan’s remarks, Trujillo said they are not new. He pointed out that the concern is how withholding federal funding will also affect American citizens.

“This is not a small amount of funds, and taxpayers all contribute to — which includes undocumented immigrants,” Trujillo told CNS. “It’s something that’s obviously alarming, but it’s also something that everyone should be concerned about.”

He said the city’s adoption of a sanctuary ordinance would serve as another layer of protection for immigrants.

“We need LA County and the Board of Supervisors to also review what they have and see what levels of protection they can provide,” Trujillo added. “And the same goes for the state.”