The Moorpark City Council meeting on December 3 turned into a very heated event. Residents lined up to loudly criticize the city's lack of action following a scary incident where federal immigration agents, or ICE, aggressively stopped a Hispanic man near a local library right before Thanksgiving. The speakers were emotional and furious, saying the city needs to do way more to protect its people.
š The Scary Morning Encounter
Speakers described what happened early in the morning, around 7:30 a.m. the day before Thanksgiving. They said a Hispanic man driving a small truck was suddenly surrounded by several unmarked vehicles. The ICE agents who got out were wearing masks and did not bother to identify themselves. This immediately created a terrifying and confusing scene near the Moorpark Avenue library.
The man was visibly shaken and was eventually released. Witnesses strongly believed the only reason he was let go was because he was a U.S. citizen and spoke perfect English. This detail raised huge alarms for the community. The fact that the man was stopped and surrounded so aggressively, despite being a citizen, showed that agents were targeting people based on how they looked, not what they had done.
š "A Terror Campaign"
One woman who only identified herself as Lynn witnessed the whole scary event. She spoke through tears at the council meeting, calling the agents' actions a "terror campaign" being waged against residents based only on their race, without caring about their citizenship status.
To make things worse, Lynn claims that when she legally tried to witness and photograph the incident near her children's school, the ICE agents threatened and intimidated her. She declared that "Something truly awful is happening in our community under the guise of enforcing immigration laws." This is a huge accusation against federal agents.
šļø Criticizing the City's Quiet Response
Another longtime Moorpark resident, Janet Murphy, completely blasted the city council for its limited response. She called the council's silence and lack of action "complicity," meaning they were basically helping the situation by doing nothing.
Murphy and others argued that the city's previous efforts, like a July immigration workshop and some links on the website, are a joke and totally useless. They urged Moorpark to stop playing around and actually follow the lead of other cities. They demanded the city put money toward funding legal aid and support programs, openly speak out against unconstitutional ICE actions, and truly protect all residents from fear.
Former councilmember Roseann Mikos backed them up, saying she was very disappointed that Moorpark had done almost nothing since the workshop months ago. She shared shocking statistics, noting that at least 1,083 people in the tri-county area, with 653 in Ventura County alone, have been forcibly taken by immigration authorities. She argued against the assistant city attorney's claim that the city could not do anything, pointing out that other cities have found legal and practical ways to help.
"You just spent millions of dollars improving High Street, but people are scared to go there now," Mikos told the council, challenging them to take a leadership role and put this critical issue on a future meeting agenda.
š¬ The Council's Hands Are Tied
Councilmember Tom Means responded by saying that even though he appreciated the residents using their right to speak out and share their experiences, the council could not officially discuss or act on the comments. Why? Because the issue was not actually on the meeting's agenda.
The city has put up a webpage with immigration resources and contacts at moorparkca.gov/1222/Immigration Resources-and-Contacts. Meanwhile, the nearby city of Simi Valley is doing a little more. They plan to have two informational presentations at their own City Council meeting on December 15. The presentations will cover available immigration resources and the Simi Valley Police Department's public safety rules.