Noncitizen voting plan shelved over fears of fallout

Some said the L.A. proposal lacked detail. Others worried about a Trump backlash.

- BY DAVID ZAHNISER, NOAH GOLDBERG AND MELISSA GOMEZ

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times L.A. MAYOR Karen Bass, left, listens to Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, in May.

It was a traumatic moment for much of Southern California, as federal immigration agents snatched undocumented workers from car washes, garment factories and Home Depot parking lots.

Angelica Salas, who heads one of Los Angeles' most influential immigrant rights groups, met regularly last summer with City Councilmember Hugo SotoMartínez himself the son of Mexican immigrants-as they formulated a response.

The two kept circling back to a singular issue: the lack of political power wielded by noncitizens.

"A lot of this is happening because immigrants don't have the right to vote," said Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.

Those conversations helped fuel Soto-Martínez's decision in late April to push for a ballot proposal aimed at giving noncitizens the right to vote in city and school district elections.

The proposal quickly gained momentum, with two-thirds of the council voting in mid-June to draft a measure for the Nov. 3 ballot.

But the effort collapsed on Tuesday, with the council reversing course and sending the proposal to a committee for more study. Before the vote, Soto-Martínez acknowledged that he had not performed sufficient outreach, particularly to the city's Black community leaders.

By then, critics were accusing the council of failing to do its homework, leaving voters to fill in the blanks on such questions as whether undocumented immigrants would be covered by the expanded franchise. Some worried the proposal would endanger the very people it was designed to help, making them a fresh target for the Trump administration.

Even community leaders who have worked on civil rights issues were urging the council to slow down.