By David Courtland
Following comments from 42 people who stayed late into the night to address them at their Nov. 18 meeting, Oxnard City councilmembers voted 5-1 to fund a county public defender working exclusively on immigration cases.
Councilmember Gabe Teran sat out the vote because he has a possible conflict of interest since he works for Ventura County. Councilmember Aaron Starr cast the lone vote against the proposal.
The city will now work with the Ventura County Public Defender’s Office, giving the county $600,000 of matching funds for one additional Ventura County Public Defender Attorney position over three years.
“I’m in full support of this program and I want to make a motion to adopt it,” said Mayor Luis A. Mc Arthur, who was seconded by Councilmember Bert Perello.
Only Councilmember Aaron Starr had reservations, saying that although he had been enthusiastic about the idea when Basua first proposed it, his enthusiasm was cooling because he didn’t think the proposed attorney would be able to help many people.
“As I’m looking at this I’m asking myself more and more, what kind of defense would they really be able to offer?” said Starr, speculating an attorney that might be able to take 20 or 30 cases a year. “I just think by adopting this we’re kind of giving people false hope.”
“I just don’t think this is going to work, so I don’t think it’s worth the money,” concluded Starr.
But the city manager responded that although there were no guarantees against someone being deported, the proposal would at least make sure a person got access to their Fifth Amendment rights.
“There is no guarantee here that if the public defender represents you, you won’t be deported,” noted Nguyen. “This is about due process, this is just about the Fifth Amendment – you have zero chance of due process if you don’t have an attorney at all.”
Perello was adamant in his support of the proposal, explaining “the reason I support this is that due process is a big deal,” noting his own experience when he thought he needed an attorney, “and I found out fast I needed an attorney.”
“Mr. Starr, it’s easy to say that you just don’t care,” said Basua. When Starr protested that he did care she insisted, “No, if you cared you’d support this.”
But support for the proposal from the community was overwhelming, with Griselda Reyes Basurto describing the fear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was causing in the indigenous immigrant community.
“In my professional experience working with indigenous families in the immigrant community, I’ve observed the profound emotional and social impact generated through the interventions of ICE,” said Basurto, manager of the community outreach program for Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP).
“These moments cause fear and feelings of helplessness in children as well as adults,” said Basurto. “Many families have expressed their fear of doing things like going to work, to the doctor, or taking the kids to school.”
The council will get a report from Ventura County on how well the program is working in June 2026, said Nguyen.