Video: Simi press conference

Watch Simi Valley Mayor Paul Miller read a statement regarding the city's decision to make a church pay for a protest that happened in front of it this weekend.
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An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union said Simi Valley is opening itself up to a lawsuit with its decision to bill a church for the cost of policing an immigration protest.

"Paying for the cost of a political demonstration like this is paying for protection of freedom of expression, which is the price of living in a democracy," ACLU attorney Peter Bibring said Wednesday. "If people had to pay, no one would ever demonstrate."

He said what the city is doing is a suppression of protected speech and simply illegal.

But on Wednesday, Mayor Paul Miller stood by the city's decision to charge the United Church of Christ $39,306 for police presence at Sunday's protest against the church's sheltering of an illegal immigrant. About 125 anti-illegal immigration activists and counterprotesters were at the rally.

"The issue is that they (the church) set up this confrontation," Miller said during a news conference.

He said if the church had not announced it was sheltering an illegal immigrant there would not have been a protest and "we would not have had this problem and this $40,000 could have been spent on something else."

As for the legality of the city's decision, Miller said city officials are cutting new ground.

"And whenever you do something unique it brings out all sorts of questions, so we don't know all the answers."

As to whether the city is, by default, enforcing immigration laws — the jurisdiction of the federal government — Miller said, "we'll let the lawyers figure that out."

The United Church of Christ in Simi Valley is sheltering Liliana and her infant son. The Oxnard woman, an illegal immigrant wanted for deportation, is part of a national New Sanctuary Movement aimed at keeping families of illegal immigrants together.

Church responsible, mayor says

The protest was organized by an anti-illegal immigration group called Save Our State, which hoped to make a citizen's arrest of Liliana.

Joseph Turner, founder of Save Our State, said he couldn't be happier about the city's decision to bill the church.

"We want to put pressure on these churches that are breaking the law," he said. "I don't think they can pay a $40,000 bill every weekend for housing an illegal alien."

Miller said that by publicly announcing its decision to shelter Liliana, the 80-member church provoked the protesters, creating a public safety disturbance police had to prepare for.

The organization behind the sanctuary movement, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, has argued that going public about who is being sheltered is what makes these efforts legal and proves the church is not "harboring" anyone.

"The city is essentially punishing the church for what is their spiritual decision," said Alexia Salvatierra, executive director of CLUE. She thinks the city's action goes beyond the sanctuary movement.

"We feel like there are serious church and state issues involved," she said. "It's a real crossing of the line."

The Simi Valley City Council thinks the church is harboring an illegal immigrant, a violation of the law.

On Friday, Miller sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, requesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials take custody of Liliana. While no attempt was made to arrest her, two agents were at the protest Sunday, Gallegly said. He said the city has a right to ask to recoup money spent on police services.

"Clearly the city is in the right to go in and take whatever is necessary," Gallegly said.

Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for ICE, said harboring illegal immigrants is an illegal act and it is often used in conjunction with other charges such as human smuggling or taking down criminal organizations.

"Those who willfully violate U.S. immigration laws face the consequences of their actions," Kice said in a prepared statement. "We carry out enforcement actions at appropriate times and places."

Church had no control'

One law professor thinks the city is on shaky ground.

"I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this," said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA School of Law professor.

"In this case, the church had no control over the protests," he said.

Even if the church did break the law, it didn't start the protest, he said. He added the city is getting involved in a debate about federal law.

"They are complaining about a violation that isn't their law and they are talking about an expense that is an indirect consequence of their illegal conduct," he said. "On balance, their argument is so very weak, they are likely to lose."

City Attorney David Hirsch said he was in the process of researching the issue of billing the church and was not in the position to comment now.

Miller said he is pleading with the church to no longer house Liliana. But he added if the federal government is not interested in having her arrested, neither is he. He doesn't want to deal with this issue again.

"I don't want to every Sunday get 50 or 60 policemen out there to maintain order," he said.

Miller said he's asked the city attorney to draw up an ordinance that would allow the city to recover costs if similar situations occur in the future.

City Councilwoman Barbra Williamson believes the church's actions might violate rules of tax exemption for religious institutions.

"I still think this woman is breaking the law, quite frankly, and is making the church look bad," Williamson said. "Is there no church in Oxnard that will take her in?"

She noted that by midafternoon Wednesday, the council had received about 50 e-mails, many from cities congratulating them for taking a strong stance on the issue.

The Rev. Betty Stapleford of the Conejo Valley Unitarian Fellowship Church in Thousand Oaks said her 200-member congregation is supportive of the Simi Valley church housing Liliana. Stapleford said church members take turns spending time with Liliana.

"We're standing firm," Stapleford said. "We had a service on Sunday on immigration and the need for hospitality and to stand up to a broken law that needs to be fixed."