As result, Jose Alvarez is now separated from his family, including his six children who were born in the U.S. and are thus U.S. citizens (dubbed by some as "anchor babies"), one of whom served in the U.S. Marines.

LBREPORT.com provides quick-load on-demand audio of Council action on the item (1 hr, 17 minutes) at this link. (VIDEO is at this link.)

[Scroll down for further.]

Councilman Roberto Uranga delivered a lengthy, passionate statement in support, followed by a statement by Councilwoman Pearce in support. Vice Mayor Rex Richardson then joined in voicing support.

Mayor Garcia then opened public comment and invited as the first speaker a representative from the office of Cong. Alan Lowenthal (D, LB-West OC). The Congressman's rep read a statement indicating that on Thursday (Nov. 17), Cong. Lowenthal plans to join members of Mr. Alvarez's family in Washington, D.C. to urge DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to change current policy that prevents family members of current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces for qualifying for parole in place for military families based on non-violent criminal convictions. "While these convictions must be considered, they are just one factor and shoujld not outweigh the fact that Jose has led an exemplary life as a Long Beach resident and family man for the past 21 years. Policy decisions that involve keeping families together should not be seen as black and white but as one of many factors to be weighed in considering an applicant's petition for parole in place," Cong. Lowenthal's statement said.

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Multiple public speakers -- including members of Mr. Alvarez family supported by multiple advocates from LB's immigrant rights community -- then spoke in support. Mr. Alvarez's eldest daughter, at times speaking through tears, revealed that her mother (Mrs. Alvarez) was returning to Long Beach from visiting Mr. Alvarez when she was involved in a traffic accident that has left her hospitalized at the border after undergoing five surgeries...and another son has been forced to drop out of LBCC to support the family. One public speaker, a 4th district resident who said she is undocumented, chided 4th dist. Councilman Daryl Supernaw charging that he wasn't present in the Council Chamber to hear her testimony.

One public speaker, Larry Goodhue, spoke in opposition.

Following public testimony, Mayor Garcia invited comments from Council members.

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Councilwoman Price several times voiced compassion for the family's situation and acknowledged that the agendized item was going to pass, but said she'd researched the issue of humanitarian parole, found it was a narrow exception under which it's difficult to quality and stated that she didn't want to create a false sense of hope. (Price referred to a recent Council action that she didn't specify but said had done so.) Councilwoman Price indicated she'd support a Council resolution that would address a possible change in federal law that might prove more impactful in this case and in others beyond...and invited other Councilmembers to support such an action.

Councilman Uranga responded that he believes the resolution agendized is the right thing to do, saying it basically urges federal authorities to consider all the factors involved in this case. Agenda-item co-author Pearce said she would vote for her agendized item and didn't want to undercut research done by the family in seeking humanitarian parole, but expressed support for the type of more general Council resolution suggested by Councilwoman Price that would address a city-supported federal policy change.

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Assistant City Attorney Mais said that (via a future agenda item) the Council could refer the issue to the Council's Federal Legislation Committee for discussion, and Assistant City Manager Tom Modica noted that the city's annual Federal Legislative Agenda (general positions that the City will support or oppose in Washington) was also slated to come to the Council for discussion, and possible changes, in the coming weeks.

Councilman Supernaw said he echoed Councilwoman Price's concern in not providing false hope and said he'd like to "add value" to what is going to pass. He said he'd received no correspondence from anyone (no emails, texts or the like) in support of Mr. Alvarez although the precipitating incident had occurred in his 4th Council district. He said he'd nothing from CSULB, found it interesting that the agencies involved had not reached out to him and noted that CSULB is a state agency that had become involved with a federal policy and he'd "like to see them weigh-in on this" adding "I think that's the best way I can serve you tonight is to suggest that you go after these entities and get them to come out and say 'hey we made a mistake; here's how we'd like to support your cause.'"...after which Supernaw went on to vote "no" vote on the agendized item. Councilwoman Mungo voted "no" without making any statements publicly.

Mayor Garcia said nothing on the issue until after the Council vote, then spoke in basically generic terms: "Long Beach will always, and this is not a partisan issue, Long Beach will always support its immigrant population, the undocumented communtiy, and everyone that calls this place home, we're always going to be supportive of," he said.

The item will now return to the Council in the coming weeks for an enacting vote after put into legal form by the City Attorney's office.

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From a federal standpoint, Mr. Alvarez is a convicted drug trafficker...and thus far, the Obama administration has apparently treated him as such. Concerning Humanitarian Parole, the Obama administration's Department of Customs and Immigration Services website states in pertinent part:

[USCIS webpage text] Humanitarian parole is used sparingly to bring someone who is otherwise inadmissible into the United States for a temporary period of time due to a compelling emergency.

USCIS may grant parole temporarily:

• To anyone applying for admission into the United States based on urgent humanitarian reasons or if there is a significant public benefit

• For a period of time that corresponds with the length of the emergency or humanitarian situation

Parolees must depart the United States before the expiration of their parole. You may submit a request for reparole, which must be approved by USCIS. Parole does not grant any immigration benefits.

Requirements for Parole

• Anyone can file an application for humanitarian parole.

• You may file an application for parole if you cannot obtain the necessary admission documents from the Department of State

• You cannot use parole to avoid normal visa-issuing procedures or to bypass immigration procedures. As noted above, there must be an urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit for the parole to be granted

• To see if you can obtain the necessary admission documents from the Department of State, see the "Department of State Visa Information" on the right [of the webpage.]

Developing. Further as it occurs on LBREPORT.com.