Monterey Park News

12/03/2025

The City Council will decide Wednesday on a proposed data center in the Saturn Park Innovation/Technology Zone. Link to the article in the comments.

07/17/2025

The City Council opted to delay taking action on the proposed trash fee Wednesday to allow residents more time to submit protest votes should they wish to. The council will resume the public hearing at its Aug. 6 meeting.

07/16/2025

The Monterey Park City Council will vote to levy an additional garbage hauling fee Wednesday night unless thousands of residents submit protest votes before the public hearing comes to a close.

07/07/2025

Here's a map of the crime reports for June 2025 in Monterey Park.

Here is a map of the 32 crimes reported in Monterey Park in June 2025.

07/04/2025

𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬

The Monterey Park City Council took several measures Wednesday to address residents’ concerns about potential immigration enforcement actions in the city.

For several weeks, immigration enforcement has been a major focus in Southern California, with federal agents conducting raids in communities in and around Los Angeles County. Federal agents are being accused of kidnapping members of the public without offering them due process, and Huntington Park police arrested a man June 24 on suspicion of posing as a federal immigration agent.

In closed session Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to “intervene” in a lawsuit against the U.S.Department of Homeland Security in federal court for “abducting and disappearing community members using unlawful stop and arrest practices and confining individuals at a federal building in illegal conditions while denying them access to attorneys.” By intervening with the lawsuit, better known as “Perdomo, et al v. Noem, et al,” the City will seek to support legal efforts to halt the above actions and ensure that federal agencies are held accountable for any constitutional or human rights violations.

“On behalf of our city, which is built on diversity and immigrants, we proudly support this lawsuit,” Mayor Vinh Ngo said.

The City Council later voted unanimously to support State Senate bills 627 and 805. Authored by State Senators Sasha Renee Perez (D-Pasadena) and Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), SB 627 would require law enforcement officers at all levels to show their faces and be identifiable via uniforms when interacting with the public. Authored by Perez, Wiener, and State Sen. Jesse Arreguin (D-Berkeley), SB 805 would require personnel of a law enforcement agency operating in California to visibly display identification that includes either a name or badge number to the public when performing their duties.

Locally, Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese clarified that while Monterey Park police officers may not be able to stop immigration enforcement in the city, they are certainly able to require that those claiming to be federal agents identify their identities to ensure they are, indeed, federal agents and not people posing as them for nefarious purposes.

Wiese added that the city has not observed immigration enforcement in Monterey Park nor received any reports of residents abducted in immigration enforcement operations, though he is aware of a video posted to social media of what appears to be an abduction taking place at the northwest corner of Newmark and Garfield avenues.

“We are going to do our best to make sure that the people of Monterey Park are safe,” Wiese said. “That will never change.”

Several residents attended Wednesday’s meeting to offer public comment about their concerns and fears about immigration enforcement, with many saying they have been carrying their passports with them to prove their citizenship.

“I want our community to feel secure and not have fear about this situation,” resident Esther Perez said. “People are afraid and don't want that in the city we live in.”

Many residents clapped and cheered when they heard the actions the City Council had taken Wednesday, including resident Veronica Ciafone.

“I want to thank you for showing courageous local leadership,” Ciafone said. “This is what it looks like, supporting not just one but all of your constituents.”

Wiese encouraged residents to call the Monterey Park Police Department should they see what appear to be abductions in the city so that, at the very least, officers can keep the peace and verify the identity of the potential immigration enforcement agents.

Wiese said he wished he could do more to assuage residents’ fears, but he said residents can still get their questions answered remotely either by phone (626-573-1311) or the city’s website, which has a separate webpage dedicated to immigration and citizenship resources including printable so-called “Know Your Rights” cards.

Former City Councilmember Teresa Real submitted a separate urgency ordinance for City Council consideration that would delineate police officer procedure when called for immigration enforcement operations. Real’s ordinance, which the City Council did not discuss, used the acronym CLEAR – Count the number of masked people and unmarked vehicles, Location this took place, Equipment (weaponry) armed with, Activity observed, and Report the time the incident took place.

Real pointed out that the state senate bills the City Council supported will not go into effect immediately if approved and that her urgency ordinance could bridge that gap if adopted.

“It would be a 90-day emergency measure to protect residents from individuals who falsely claim to be immigration agents who engage in assault, intimidation, unlawful entry, r**e, abduction, human trafficking, and organized crime,” Real said, “We need to protect residents against fake ICE agents.”