In defense of Culver City’s three-week-old status as a sanctuary city, Mayor Jim Clarke issued a statement over the weekend that will be familiar to advocates and opponents.

“Culver City is a City of Kindness, and our City Council has affirmed this with the adoption of our Sanctuary City Resolution.

“Media outlets recently reported about a section in the Police Dept. manual that addresses immigration enforcement.

“It appears inconsistent with our Council direction. I am pleased that Police Chief Scott Bixby swiftly gave this matter his full attention. He moved to delete Policy 415 in the Police Dept. manual.

“This should address any concerns in our community about the role the Culver City Police Dept. plays in enforcing federal immigration law.

“The simple answer is none.”

Mr. Clarke explained the genesis of his most recent advocacy statement on behalf of a sanctuary city that shields illegal immigrants from law enforcement.

“Unbeknownst to me,” he said, “there was a report in the L.A. Times that talked about a number of sanctuary cities that still have policies on the books that have been generated through the state.

“A consultant talked about identification and handling of people suspected of being illegal immigrants.”

The mayor said neither he nor his City Council colleagues knew City Hall had “these guidelines.

“Chief Bixby assured me we were not following these guidelines,” said Mr. Clarke. “He said that we are not trying to determine immigration status of individuals who are stopped. It seemed as though we were giving a conflicting message – between what our practice is and our policy on the books as to how you go about identifying whether someone is illegal.

“Chief Bixby decided to remove that inconsistency from the books so there is no confusion about our policy,” said the mayor.

Hence, Mr. Clarke repeated his clarifying declaration.