Vallejo committee gets updates on immigration and public safety

by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | February 12, 2025

VALLEJO – About 40 percent of the Vallejo school district student population didn’t show up to class during ‘A day without immigrants’ national protest held on Monday, February 3, in opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

The attendance information was shared by Vallejo City Unified School District Superintendent Rubén Aurelio at a special meeting of the 2×2 Committee held this week. The committee is an opportunity for the city and school district to work together on shared issues.

“The attendance hit is real, the fear is real, it’s completely valid,” said Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce. “The antidote to fear is good information, is facts.”  

The protest was aimed at highlighting the contributions non-citizens and immigrants have made to the country, while also protesting the aggressive stance the Trump administration has taken, which has included deportations. In addition to students staying away from school, many restaurants and other businesses closed for the day. The committee noted that besides the fear created by the new policy, there is a financial impact to the district, which receives funding from student attendance. Aurelio also noted the student’s loss of learning as a major issue associated with the aggressive immigration policy.

In response to the change in immigration policy, several Solano County law enforcement agencies, including Vallejo police, stressed they would not be checking immigration status.

Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta reiterated this stance at the committee meeting.

“Our role as local law enforcement is crime enforcement, so that crime, regardless of immigration status, is what our mission is,” Ta told the committee. “We do not explore immigration status on any person, whether they are a victim, an offender, a witness, that does not come into play.”

Aureilo presented the link to a district web page called “immigrant inclusion and support” which provides resources to Vallejo parents about Trump’s immigration policies and what it means to students, families and the community.

“It doesn’t, obviously, deal with fear,” he said. “Which is the big challenge.” 

Councilman Diosdado “JR” Matulac (District 2 – North Vallejo), who is also a school district employee said the city’s students are safe.

“We know that here in the state of California our schools are a safe place for all of our students and families,” he said.

The committee briefly discussed proposed state legislation which “would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools and their personnel from granting a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, or other federal official engaging in immigration related investigation or enforcement, permission to access a school campus without a judicial warrant.”

Senate Bill 48, introduced by State Sen. Lena Gonzalez, would also “prohibit a local educational agency and its personnel from disclosing or providing, in writing, verbally, or in any other manner, the education records of or any information about a pupil, pupil’s family and household, school employee, or teacher to a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, or any other federal official engaging in immigration related investigation or enforcement, without a judicial warrant, and regarding a pupil’s educational records or personal information, without the written consent of the pupil’s parent or legal guardian.”

Committee gets update on public safety

The committee also received an update from Vallejo police on the state of crime around Lincoln Elementary School along Sonoma Boulevard. 

Police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis said sex trafficking and drugs are the “two common issues and concerns in the area of Lincoln elementary.”

He mentioned Senate Bill 357, which prevents law enforcement for arresting individuals loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. Police Chief Jason Ta said the city is looking at an ordinance which would aid police in combating prostitution in the city but he admited that enforcement would still be an issue.

Vallejo school board President John Fox said “it gets tiring” to see all the prostitution and crime near the school site.

“With the prostitution and the gang activity being so close to a school, (I just think) as a city we have to decide what is acceptable for our children and our families to be exposed to and what’s not acceptable,” Fox said. “And how long has this been going on and why is it still going on?”

In his response, Ta said he agreed with Fox. 

“I think I speak for all of us. None of that is acceptable,” Ta said. “We are, at the moment, challenged with some staffing issues. We are trying to navigate, as best we can, with some of these mitigating strategies.”  

Ta pointed to some of those mitigating strategies, including the ReportJohn.org online platform. According to a VPD presentation, the platform “allows persons to anonymously report suspected human trafficking and prostitution-related activity directly to law enforcement.” Residents are encouraged to submit a picture of the “John’s” vehicle, license plate and date of the alleged crime. 

The information is reviewed and should police determine a crime occurred, a notice is sent to the registered owner of the vehicle in question. 

Ta also mentioned the department’s Operation Starvation, or “high-visibility patrolling,” to deter prostitution in an area. Officers will make their presence, in uniform, be known, while also speaking with community members and business owners in the area. Officers will also speak with the prostitutes themselves, even offering them access to support, in a way to deter the transactions.  

The police chief said the city has received assistance from the CHP, which can help with deterrence but he noted there is a caveat.

“However, I just want to mention that they are traffic officers, they are not used to municipal policing and so the visibility, though, is helpful, Ta said.” 

Sorce said she supported going after the Johns and pimps and not necessarliy going after the sex workers themselves. 

“We’ve all been down Sonoma Bouelvard. It’s a lot of minors, it’s a lot of folks that have been trafficked in from other areas that are being moved around,” she said, “so (it’s really about) going after the pimps and the Johns as much as we can and not criminalizing the folks themselves,” Sorce said.

Nebraska Street closure update presented to committee

Committee members also received an update on the status of a plan to close a section of Nebraska Street in front of Vallejo High School for safety reasons during school hours.

Mark Helmbrecht, transportation program superintendent with the city of Vallejo, said his office is waiting for a traffic study to be completed on the proposed closure. Once received, the city will begin the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) process on the possible environmental impacts from the proposed project.

Helmbrecht said he didn’t expect a long, drawn-out CEQA process.

“I don’t expect what we’re going to find in this study is going to have any sort of significant impacts,” he told the committee. “I’m expecting that this will be a fairly short, fairly focused environmental document that we’ll write inhouse and file ourselves.”  

Helmbrecht said that in the interim, several traffic calming measures will be instituted along that section of Nebraska Street including adding traffic cushions/speed humps, signage, and advanced warning signs about the speed humps. These items will be installed during Spring break toward the end of March to early April.

When asked about the status of the nearby Amador Street and whether it would also be closed or receive calming measures, Helmbrecht said that it wouldn’t be included in the Nebraska Street project at this time due to limited funding. 

He said the Nebraska Street measures would utilize the entire $30,000 micro grant given to the city from the Solano Transportation Authority.

The committee is made up of two Vallejo council members and two Vallejo school board trustees (hence the 2×2 name) to address issues that affect both the city and school district. Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce, and Councilman Diosdado “JR” Matulac serve as the council representatives while school board President John Fox and Vice President Glenn Amboy are the school board representatives.