President Trump stated early in his presidential campaign that he would build a giant concrete wall on the Mexican border to keep immigrants from illegally emigrating to the U.S.  Since then, the topic of immigration has become a great issue in the news and an extremely controversial one. Now, even Claremont has the issue of immigration on the mind as the city has reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the city diverse, safeguarding of civil rights, and safety and dignity of all. Throughout the U.S., several cities like Phoenix, AZ, Los Angeles, CA, and Dallas, TX have been deemed sanctuary cities, cities that protect unauthorized immigrants by giving them the privileges of regular citizens and by not penalizing them for emigrating.  Although Claremont is significantly smaller than  the previous cities mentioned, there is talk of making it a sanctuary city however, a formal decision has not been reached yet. As of now, Claremont has not officially called itself a sanctuary city.  

On Jan. 24, the day before the president would formally sign executive orders to officially build the wall and cease federal funding for sanctuary cities, a City Council meeting was held in Claremont regarding the matter of immigration.  Specifically, the meeting revolved around whether or not Claremont would be a sanctuary city.

The idea of deeming Claremont a sanctuary city was met with an extremely mixed reception. Those who were against the proposition believed that if Claremont were to become one, the overall safety of Claremont’s population would be jeopardized and crime rates would most likely increase. Regarding financial and economic reasons, Claremont would also lose nearly $500,000 in federal funding in order to support the immigrant citizens; additionally, they also expressed that immigrants of all backgrounds, not just Mexicans and Middle Easterners, had no right to illegally emigrate to the U.S. whatsoever.

The majority of the people who were open to making Claremont a sanctuary city looked at the issue through a more liberal lens. They argued that if Claremont became a sanctuary city, the city’s enduring vow to embrace diversity and to protect the rights, safety, and dignity of all of its citizens would be enhanced in a beneficial way.  Claremont Councilman Joe Lyons shared this same opinion, and he spoke on the people’s behalf at the meeting, which was included in an article published on the website of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

“To me, [making Claremont a sanctuary city] doesn’t have anything to do with losing $500,000 or cost-benefit analysis as some have said to dissuade us,” Lyons said.  “It has to do with our moral and ethical obligation as representatives.  That’s what Claremont is about and has been about.  It’s one of the reasons many of us moved to Claremont.”  

Furthermore, Lyons added that when Claremont was booming in the citrus industry decades ago, immigrants were a largely significant part of the work force that made it so successful.  

Immigration has found its way to all corners of the U.S., even to small cities like Claremont.  While the City Council will continue to debate over and discuss this issue in the coming days and weeks, Claremont citizens on both sides can believe what they