Despite voters across California supporting some tough-on-crime policies in the November 5 election, the Los Angeles City Council is moving to prevent city employees from cooperating with the incoming Trump administration’s plans to deport hundreds of thousands of criminal migrants. 

In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the council approved a “sanctuary city” law to protect illegal immigrants. The city council will have to hold a final vote because it was amended during the council meeting. Mayor Karen Bass, who could veto the measure, has expressed her support for it. 

The law would not prevent deportations. However, it would prevent city employees or property from being used to “investigate, cite, arrest, hold, transfer or detain any person” for immigration enforcement. City employees will also be prohibited from collecting information about someone’s citizenship and will have to treat any information that could disclose those details as confidential. 

Since 1979, LAPD officers have been prevented from approaching individuals to gain information about their immigration status. Under the new law, the police department would be required to comply with its prohibitions. And the new LAPD chief, Jim McDonnell, has said police officers will not participate in immigration enforcement. 

A former Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, issued an executive directive that implemented protections for illegal immigrants in 2019. The new measure would enshrine those protections into law. 

Los Angeles officials have previously considered formally declaring the city a “sanctuary city,” but declined to pass such a law until this week. The incoming city council president, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, says the new law will help promote “peace” and “productivity.”

“In my district, a house catches on fire, and no one calls the fire department because nobody wants to invite the government in and risk deportation,” Mr. Harris-Dawson told NBC 5. “[The law] codifies that and puts us in a position to scaffold and build up on that to maintain Los Angeles as the kind of place where we can all live in peace, we can continue our productivity, and where we can lead the nation as a city of immigrants.”

A council member who proposed the law, Eunisses Hernandez, said it is going to be “enshrined permanently, and that’s important because it means it can’t just change from one administration to another without a significant amount of work.”

While city council members moved to codify limitations on cooperating with immigration enforcement, voters in California appeared to send a message that they want to move on from some left-wing criminal justice policies. On November 5, voters approved Proposition 36, which implements harsh penalties for certain drug and theft crimes. Voters at Los Angeles also ousted the city’s left-wing district attorney, George Gascón, voting instead for a former federal prosecutor, Nathan Hochman.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Ira Melman, said California voters are “saying enough of the lawlessness,” and the Los Angeles city government “doesn’t seem to be getting the message.”

The vote by the Los Angeles city council comes as Trump is signaling he plans to take steps to make good on his mass deportation pledge. On Monday, he confirmed reports that he will declare a national emergency and use “military assets” to deport illegal immigrants. 

Trump’s choice to be the “border tsar,” Tom Homan, has been warning local officials against taking steps to hinder removal operations. During an appearance on “Fox&Friends” Tuesday, Mr. Homan said federal law makes it a felony to “harbor and conceal” illegal immigrants and warned local governments not to “cross that line.”