The Encinitas City Council voted unanimously Wednesday, Oct. 28, to direct city staff to draft an ordinance restricting federal immigration agents from using city property.

The vote covered six measures proposed by Councilmember Joy Lyndes aimed at increasing transparency from the federal government and expanding support for immigrant families amid escalating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. It came just before 1 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, after a meeting that stretched past midnight, first reported by inewsource.

"Our people feel targeted and traumatized," Lyndes said as she introduced her proposal, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Lyndes said it was time for the council to revisit the issue given recent ICE activities in Southern California. In the prior three weeks, there had been reports of seven Encinitas families being affected by immigration-related arrests, she said, according to the Union-Tribune.

Mali Woods-Drake, who runs the nonprofit Encinitas4Equality, provided similar figures during public comment. Her organization has supported 42 local families affected by immigration enforcement over the prior 15 months, and seven of those families had a relative detained in the prior two and a half weeks, inewsource reported.

What the council approved

The six measures include:

  • Directing staff to draft an ordinance restricting federal agents' use of city property and resources for immigration enforcement
  • Drafting a due-process and safety ordinance for community property such as schools, churches and community gatherings
  • Increasing pressure on federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, including possible legal action if the city does not receive responses
  • Establishing a communication channel for reporting immigration agents' presence and enforcement
  • Partnering with community organizations tracking enforcement actions
  • Setting a timeline to complete the proposals

City Manager Jennifer Campbell said the city would also create a dedicated immigration email address and add resources to its website, according to inewsource.

A long, tense meeting

Dozens of residents spoke before the vote. Speakers described seeing federal agents' vehicles passing by area schools and workplaces, according to the Union-Tribune.

The meeting grew tense early. Deputy Mayor Jim O'Hara tried to remove Lyndes' item from the agenda, calling it a "calculated political stunt" that was "completely unnecessary and redundant." The city attorney told him the council could not remove it, the Union-Tribune reported. O'Hara then moved to postpone the discussion until after the Tuesday, Nov. 3, election. That motion failed for lack of a second.

O'Hara and Councilmember Luke Shaffer initially appeared skeptical of Lyndes' proposal, but both ultimately voted in favor, according to inewsource. The crowd erupted in a standing ovation when the unanimous vote was cast.

Mayor Bruce Ehlers told the crowd the situation had "gotten a lot worse in the last two weeks" and said he felt federal agents had been "misrepresenting" what they were doing, the Union-Tribune reported. Ehlers also mentioned that a dance group booked for the city's annual Day of the Dead event had to cancel because it lost several members.

"It has gone from bad to horrible," Ehlers said, according to inewsource.

Election backdrop

Neither O'Hara nor Lyndes is running for election this year. Ehlers and Councilmember Marco San Antonio are both on the Nov. 3 ballot, and immigration enforcement has been a campaign issue.

San Antonio, whose parents immigrated from the Philippines, said he stands by his prior statements that ICE is a "necessary evil" but disagrees with the tactics the agency is using, according to inewsource.

The council first acted on ICE enforcement in the city after a father was arrested near Park Dale Lane Elementary School in August 2025 by armed federal agents wearing bulletproof vests and face masks. That arrest, witnessed by parents and children walking to school, led to protests and prompted the council to launch a "Know Your Rights" campaign and file federal records requests.

No timeline has been set for when the draft ordinance will return to the council.