Murrieta: City Announces Opposition to Illegal Immigrants' Arrival in Town

The following statement was published Monday, June 30 by the City of Murrieta: 

Murrieta Opposes Illegal Immigrant Arrival

At 10:00 am [Monday] morning, Murrieta Mayor Alan Long announced in a press conference that 140 illegal immigrants processed through a Texas Border Patrol Station will be delivered to the Murrieta Border Patrol Station tomorrow, July 1, 2014.

Long began by thanking the collaborative efforts of County Supervisor Jeff Stone, Temecula Mayor Maryann Edwards and the cohesive efforts of Murrieta’s Police and Fire Departments. He then referenced the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 212(a)(6)(A), which limits the ability of illegal entrants to be admitted to the country. INA Section 237(a) states said immigrants are deportable.

 “This is a failure to enforce federal law at the federal level,” Long said. “Murrieta continues to object to the transfer of illegal immigrants to the local border patrol office.”

The immigrants, mostly fathers and/or mothers with young children, have arrived in Texas en masse, mostly from the Rio Grande Valley in Central America. According to a CBS News site, they are fleeing violence, murders and extortion from criminal gangs in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. They are being sent to other border patrol offices throughout the United States to help handle the quantity.

During his 30-minute speech, Long stressed that Murrieta will remain a safe community regardless of the pending arrival of these illegal immigrants and that multiple contingency plans have been put in place by our local law enforcement to maintain Murrieta’s high level of safety.

“Supervisor Jeff Stone, Congressman Calvert and surrounding local officials are in support of our efforts and have offered resources,” Mayor Long said. “Murrieta PD will take the lead and will incorporate resources into the established Incident Action Plan.”

Murrieta has been informed that the immigrants will have already been screened for health issues, but Supervisor Stone and Murrieta are not taking any chances. Stone has offered to set up a mobile hospital at Murrieta’s border patrol office for further screening.

Long encouraged the news media and public to spread facts and not rumors. Murrieta’s local government will be sending updates to local residents via the website (www.murrieta.org/immigration) and through social media. A regularly scheduled City Council meeting tomorrow night at 6:00 pm (1 Town Square, Murrieta) will address this issue and give an update at that time; a Town Hall meeting has been scheduled for 6:30 pm on Wednesday at Murrieta Mesa High School in Murrieta.

A hotline for information will be established after 12:00 pm on Monday. The public can call (951) 837-4343 to get updated information about the transfer of the immigrants to Murrieta. The public can also send an email to immigration@murrieta.org for more info.