“Private Property: No I.C.E. Allowed,” sign in Alhambra (Photo – Melissa Michelson)
After community responses to ICE activities in Alhambra since last summer, and concerns raised about the Alhambra Police Department’s actions and potential constitutional violations this January, the City of Alhambra has produced ICE-Out signs for the public, designated City property as ICE-Free Zones, and directed Alhambra PD not to interfere with the “lawful exercise of any person’s Constitutional rights.”
By Melissa Michelson
“Private Property: No I.C.E. Allowed,” read the 8½ x 11” cards for residents and business owners in Alhambra who wish to display them. The sign states that ICE may not enter without a valid, judge-signed warrant. They are available for free at Alhambra City Hall’s reception desk and online.
Like neighboring cities such as El Monte and Pasadena, Alhambra’s city-owned property is now off-limits for use as ICE staging areas, processing locations, or operations bases.
The decision to establish ICE-free zones and create publicly available placards was made on March 23, 2026, when the Alhambra City Council unanimously approved a resolution titled “City Response to Federal Civil Immigration Activities” that followed input from community groups.
In an April 15 email, City Manager Jessica Binnquist wrote that the signs will be installed on city properties within the next two weeks, including at the parking lots of Almansor, Granada, and Emery Parks, the Joslyn Center, the Police Department, and City parking structures. But, according to public records retrieved in August 2025, the City of Alhambra owns approximately 57 sites, including City Hall, the library, fire training facilities, fire stations, reservoirs, a golf course, and a vacant building at the corner of Hellman and Fremont.
The resolution states that “metal signs [are] to be installed on City properties using [the] existing Public Works budget.”
The Role of the Police Now Addressed
This year’s resolution is the second of its kind for Alhambra. Last summer, community advocacy groups SGV Progressive Alliance, Alhambra Community Group, and Alhambra Tenants Union called for accountability and for the City Council to hold a special meeting to discuss federal enforcement activities. That meeting took place on July 7, 2025.
The groups submitted draft resolution language ahead of the meeting, asking the City Council to direct the police to confirm the identity and legitimacy of individuals claiming to act as federal agents, enforce local laws and issue citations to federal agents if they break the law, verify warrants, and restrict unjust or unconstitutional searches and seizures when activities occur without a warrant.
At the July 28, 2025 meeting, the City Council read and approved an edited version of the resolution in which the explicit language regarding police responsibilities had been removed. That was the version ultimately adopted.
This year, following a January 19, 2026 incident in which federal immigration officers called the Alhambra Police Department to respond to community ICE watcher Angie Vargas, who had been following and recording them, a new community group, ICE Out of Alhambra, urged the City to take action and submitted a draft resolution at the February 9, 2026 City Council meeting that included that included more specific language. The group later collaborated with the City on the final draft, which was adopted by the Council on March 23, 2026.
The City’s new resolution now includes specific language on the police’s role:
- directs the Alhambra Police Department and all City staff to refrain from interfering with the lawful exercise of any person’s Constitutional rights, including observing or recording law enforcement activities, barring a clear threat to personal safety;
- states that “officers will attempt, when it is tactically safe to do so, [to] identify and verify the on-scene supervisory immigration officer’s name and badge number and record it on the officer’s body-worn camera”;
- directs the Alhambra Police Department to document and independently investigate any injuries or incidents involving federal agents;
- instructs City officials to immediately notify first responders and make reasonable efforts to render aid “according to best practices and emergency protocols” if injuries occur during ICE activities;
- reminds the public that if they report property damage, violence, or criminal conduct by federal agents, the Alhambra Police Department “will document and investigate such incidents pursuant to applicable law,” and that any such investigation will be independent of any federal investigation.
The latest resolution also states that the City will distribute “Know Your Rights” materials “through all available channels” in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Mandarin, explaining the public’s rights regarding law enforcement access to private property, spaces, and personal vehicles.
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