USA / LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles Mayor castigated for her trip to Ghana while the city was burning

January 2025: Los Angeles’ Mayor Karen Bass has been heavily criticised for the absence when the worst fires in the city’s history started to take hold. Residents told journalists and wrote on social media that the Mayor should have cancelled her trip to Ghana. “Why does the LA Mayor need to fly to Africa to attend the inauguration of the President of Ghana?” Paraphrasing the quote, ‘Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome was burning’, one commentator wrote, “Mayor Bass partied while Los Angeles was burning”.

 

According to the LA Times, Bass left Los Angeles on Saturday, 4 January 2025, as part of a presidential delegation to Ghana, just as the National Weather Service began ratcheting up its warnings about the coming windstorm. On Tuesday, she attended the inauguration of the Ghanaian President, leaving the City Council President as LA’s acting mayor when the fire broke out in a back garden in Palisades.

 

In the wake of the catastrophic wildfires that have now ravaged Los Angeles, claiming five lives, destroying more than 1,500 properties and forcing some 135,000 residents to evacuate, Mayor Karen Bass is facing mounting criticism of her leadership during the crisis.

 

As the firestorm intensified, questions arose regarding her actions - or lack thereof - when it came to preparedness and emergency response.

 

Criticism of the mayor intensified when reports revealed that crucial firefighting resources were stretched thin. Fire hydrants in affected areas, including Pacific Palisades, reportedly ran dry as first responders fought to control multiple blazes. Residents have expressed frustration over the lack of water pressure during critical moments, and many are pointing fingers at Bass' office for budget decisions made earlier in her tenure.s

 

The controversy centres around the Mayor’s decision to cut funding from the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). In the most recent budget cycle, Bass slashed US$17 million from LAPD’s funding. This reduction follows an earlier proposal to cut as much as $23 million, which was ultimately scaled back after strong opposition from the United Firefighters Union of Los Angeles.

 

Further reading: American women in municipal government | American women mayors

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USA / LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles Mayor and City Council act swiftly to protect immigrants from deportation

December 2024: Following President-elect Trump’s threat to mass-deport undocumented immigrants, Los Angeles’ female Mayor, Karen Bass, acted swiftly to reassure the city’s immigrant communities that they would be protected. The Mayor told immigrants and other minorities that the city would stand with them. “Immigrant protections make our communities stronger and our city better.”

 

After meetings with immigrant rights groups, Mayor Bass and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto drafted an ordinance that would declare Los Angeles a ‘Sanctuary City’.  On Wednesday (4 December 2024), the LA City Council formally approved the measure.

 

While the City Council had previously passed a resolution declaring Los Angeles a “City of Sanctuary” in 2017, no sanctuary policies were codified into municipal law until Wednesday's vote, which came weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he will engage in mass deportation efforts, takes office.

 

The ordinance bans city law enforcement and other officials from sharing data with federal immigration authorities, which the City Council said in a statement was an important step in their efforts to ensure protections for immigrants.

 

“Immigrants make up the very fabric of Los Angeles, and they deserve to feel safe and protected in the city they call home, no matter who is in power," a city council spokesperson said.

 

The ordinance voted in by the city council included an urgency clause, which means it could go into effect within 10 days of being signed by Mayor Bass. The mayor is expected to sign the measure after declaring that the city has a responsibility to shield undocumented immigrants from deportation. "Solidarity is an action, not rhetoric," she said. "Los Angeles stands together.”

 

During the election campaign, Donald Trump announced that he would order the largest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in US history on day one in the White House. “It will be his pleasure to deploy the military’ and internment camps will be set up for deportees, he said. The President-elect has nominated hardliners for the posts of Secretary of Homeland Security and Border Patrol Commissioner to implement his agenda.

 

The Republican Party in Los Angeles criticised the city council's decision and explained that the term ‘sanctuary cities’ sounds ‘warm and fuzzy’ - but in fact, it offers protection “for people who have entered the country illegally and committed other crimes”. Criminals should “in no way be protected by the generosity of hard-working taxpayers”.

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Further reading: American women in municipal government | American women mayors

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USA / BOSTON

Boston Mayor vows to defend immigrants against Trump’s deportation plans

November 2024: Boston’s female Mayor, Michelle Wu, has pledged to protect the city’s immigrants against any attempts by the incoming Trump administration to deport them. The mayor said that the City would not cooperate with federal immigration officials should the new administration go ahead with mass deportation. President-elect Trump’s so-called Border Czar, Tom Homan, described Michelle Wu as not very smart, but the Mayor reiterated that the law was on her side. “Boston’s ten-year-old Trust Act prohibits cooperation from law enforcement and schools in civil matters.”

 

The Boston Trust Act was signed into law in 2014 under Mayor Marty Walsh. Amendments were made in 2019.

 

The act states Boston police officers will not ask people about their immigration status, share information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), make arrests based solely on ICE warrants, perform the functions of federal immigration officers or transfer someone to ICE custody. The act specifies that police will work with ICE on matters related to public safety, such as trafficking and cybercrimes.

 

Mayor Wu said her administration was preparing for all scenarios when it comes to immigration and deportations, and work is already underway with local experts and advocacy groups. “Our charge here is to take care of the residents of Boston and to use the resources that we have from all the sources that are available to get things done on the issues that matter,” she said.

 

Massachusett’s Governor Maura Healey has also said that state police would not assist the Trump administration when it comes to mass deportations. “In our state, troopers act on allegations of crimes being committed, not federal immigration detainer requests.”

 

A spokesperson for President-elect Trump’s transition team described the upcoming effort as "the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history." Trump himself recently repeated that he was considering declaring a national emergency to deploy military assets in the deportation effort.

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Further reading: American women in municipal government

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