San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera says the police department is flouting a city ordinance meant to keep the public informed whenever officers respond to scenes involving federal immigration agents. He says mandatory incident reports and notifications required under the Due Process and Safety Ordinance simply aren't showing up, even as reports of ICE activity have surged across the county this year.
Councilmember Alleges Reporting Failures
Elo-Rivera has accused the police department's leadership of flouting the city law, according to Voice of San Diego. The ordinance requires the department to issue incident reports within three business days for certain federal law-enforcement calls that involve an alleged crime tied to a protected personal characteristic, including immigration status. As NBC 7 San Diego reports, those reports are supposed to name the agencies present, say whether officers were shown a judicial warrant, and identify the personnel involved.
Elo-Rivera said his office has received only four of the required notifications since the ordinance passed, while at least one other council office has received none at all, per the same Voice of San Diego report. He said ICE terrorizes communities daily and that the department has not publicly explained its presence at multiple incidents, according to NBC 7 San Diego. He's also alleged that the department has fallen short on two separate reporting provisions built into the ordinance.
SDPD Pushes Back
SDPD spokesperson Ashely Nicholes said the department notifies all councilmembers and the mayor whenever officers respond to covered federal investigations — directly disputing Elo-Rivera's account of sparse notifications, per the Voice of San Diego report. The department says it formally notifies all council members and the mayor's office when it responds to federal officials investigating an alleged crime involving a protected personal characteristic, and that it has long been committed to keeping communities and elected officials informed, according to NBC 7 San Diego. SDPD has said its presence at these scenes is typically limited to things like crowd control, and an SDPD officer previously told KPBS, “All we're here for is scene security,” after the department was on scene at immigration operations in South Park and Linda Vista.
In a statement, the department said, “Our commitment is to follow the law, keep people safe and make sure our communities and elected officials are informed,” per Voice of San Diego. SDPD also told NBC 7 San Diego it has procedures meant to ensure it meets notification requirements, that it contacts federal officials to request information required under the ordinance, and that it notifies the affected council office and the mayor's office when officers are called to maintain public safety amid tensions between federal agents and community members — even when formal notification requirements aren't triggered. The department said it communicates about other incidents beyond what the ordinance strictly requires.
The Ordinance's Reach — and Its Limits
The San Diego City Council unanimously gave tentative approval to the Due Process and Safety Ordinance on October 20, 2025, according to KPBS. Beyond the reporting requirements, the law bars ICE or DHS agents from accessing non-public areas of city-controlled property without a judicial warrant, KPBS reported. It also requires the police chief to report any covered cooperation with federal agents in writing to the council, according to NBC 7 San Diego. The San Diego Police Department's own public guidance states that it does not enforce federal immigration law, according to the City of San Diego.
Elo-Rivera has said the police department helped write the ordinance and was given the flexibility it said it needed to do its job, per NBC 7 San Diego. But as currently written, the ordinance has no enforcement mechanism, meaning there's no built-in penalty if the department doesn't comply. Elo-Rivera said he is now considering amending the ordinance to address his concerns about the department's reporting.
A Broader Pattern of Friction
Elo-Rivera said he has asked Police Chief Scott Wahl for 15 months to be more transparent about what happens when SDPD officers are present at these scenes, according to NBC 7 San Diego. The department did not respond to his criticism of the chief's stance on other political issues, the outlet reported. That tension echoes a separate fight over Flock automated license plate readers, which Elo-Rivera has pushed to remove over concerns about mass surveillance and data breaches — a push Wahl opposes, having called the cameras a force multiplier that helps his understaffed department solve crimes, per NBC 7 San Diego.
The dispute lands as ICE activity has intensified across the region. ICE arrests nationally climbed to nearly 50,000 in July, the highest monthly total under the current administration, according to the Deportation Data Project cited by Voice of San Diego. More than 4,000 people were arrested in California that same month, with the ICE San Diego Field Office alone responsible for nearly 2,000 arrests — almost half the statewide total, the outlet reported. A map tracking ICE sightings flagged 28 across San Diego County on a single Friday, compared with just three on the same weekday a month earlier, per the same report.
Through July 2025, ICE had arrested 1,990 people locally, more than triple the 603 arrested during all of 2024, according to KPBS. The majority of those arrested, 1,037, had no criminal record, compared to 155 the year before, KPBS reported. ICE operations have drawn protesters and heated confrontations across San Diego amid the escalation.
How Other California Cities Are Responding
San Diego isn't alone in wrestling with how local police should interact with federal immigration enforcement. In Los Angeles, officers are now required to record federal immigration enforcement activity with body-worn cameras and, when tactically safe, to identify and verify the name and badge number of the on-scene supervisory immigration officer, according to NBC Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Council approved that ordinance unanimously before Mayor Karen Bass signed it.
In Sacramento, City Manager Maraskeshia Smith recently ordered that officers not be dispatched to assist ICE agents solely because people are lawfully following their vehicles, observing their activities or recording their operations, according to The Sacramento Bee. Smith stated plainly that Sacramento police are not, and shall not act as, a security detail for ICE or its immigration enforcement operations, though the department says officers may still maintain a safe perimeter or direct traffic to protect lives and property.
