Santa Ana leader says city police officers shot at him using rubber bullets during ICE protests

Residents packed the Santa Ana City Council chambers Tuesday night to criticize the police department for turning on its own residents at recent anti-ICE demonstrations.

One of those condemning the Santa Ana Police Department was Santa Ana Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez, who said he was shot at eight times with rubber bullets as he marched alongside residents in a place that bills itself as a "sanctuary city."

 "I still have the bruises on my back from the eight shots that my own officers fired at me,” he said. “I still have the holes in my black shirt that my own officers from this city fired at me. I had no weapons on me.”

Hernandez said officers also taunted him, calling him by name and saying, “‘How dare you protest?’” He also said he witnessed police officers shooting rubber bullets at children.

What did the police say?

Robert Rodriguez, the city’s police chief, was present at the meeting but did not respond to the allegations.

Instead, the police department issued a statement Tuesday evening saying they support peaceful protest and that they do not collaborate or assist immigration enforcement agents. The police department said officers made 24 arrests during the demonstrations for violations of the law, including launching fireworks at law enforcement.

During the meeting, residents demanded that more be done to banish National Guard officers who have taken up positions around federal buildings in Santa Ana.

But council members Thai Viet Phan and David Penaloza told those at the meeting that the City Council has no authority over the National Guard and cannot remove them from the city.

“There is nothing we can do to make the National Guard leave the city right now,” Penaloza said.

Public speaks out

For over five hours, hundreds of residents condemned the police department’s response, as well as statements made by Mayor Valeria Amezcua.

Jay Taj, a rapper and city resident addressed the mayor directly: “ You were elected by the very people that you have now labeled as reckless and destructive.”

Taj said the mayor’s public statements show “a clear disconnect between you and the lived experiences of the people that you're supposed to serve in a city that you call a sanctuary.”

He was referring to comments the mayor made during the early days of the protests that were seen as criticizing demonstrators.

“At some point this protest became nothing but pure chaos and violence,” she wrote in a Facebook post, adding that other elected officials in attendance were “condoning this destruction!!!”

Amezcua struck a different tone in a subsequent post on the city’s website, saying “the vast majority of those involved in the demonstrations, they have participated peacefully and without incident.” She added: “I do not support the ongoing immigration raids or the militarized escalation by the federal government in our streets.”

ICE alerts policy dropped

But some say the city isn’t doing enough to stand up to the Trump administration.

Earlier in the meeting, the City Council killed a policy in the works that would have given residents in the heavily immigrant city a heads up about when and where ICE raids would be taking place.

U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli sent a letter to the council objecting to the policy.

“Simply put, this proposal would not only hurt public safety, but it will also subject the city and its employees to potential criminal prosecution,” Essayli wrote.

That threat led Santa Ana to back down.

In contrast, Irvine Councilmember Kathleen Treseder used her social media account to encourage residents concerned about their status to stay home after ICE immigration enforcement informed the city they will be conducting detentions around the city.