LOS ANGELES, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Los Angeles City Council voted on Tuesday to draft a law which requires city contractors to reveal whether they are helping build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The lawmakers now must draft the proposed law and bring it back to the city council for approval.
"We want to know if there are people who do business with the city of Los Angeles ... who wish to profit from building a wall that would divide us from our nearest and dearest neighbor, Mexico," said Councilman Gil Cedillo.
U.S. President Donald Trump promised during his presidential campaign that his administration would build a wall along the border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration and decrease the crime rate in the America. His opponents say building a wall is xenophobic and racist.
There are already around 650 miles (1,100 km) of fencing along the 2,000 mile (3,380 km) long border between the two countries, according to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Building a border wall would cost a total of 21.6 billion U.S. dollars and take three and a half years.
Tuesday's vote was the latest move of California's lawmakers who determined to stand against Trump's policy.
"If you want to work on a Trump wall, California will not work with you!!!" Ricardo Lara, California state senator, tweeted in April. He has pushed to prohibit contractors who engaged in the border wall construction from obtaining any state project in the future.
San Francisco, Berkley city and Oakland city of California have plans to introduce the similar ban.
Cedillo's office said in a statement released on Tuesday after the vote that it is uncertain "how having a contract with the border wall will impact a contractor's chances of securing or keeping a contract with the city."
However, many businessmen regarded the city council's move as a measure to blacklist contractors which bid on the wall.
According to the City News Service website, the Federation of California Builders Exchanges and the Southern California Contractors Association have both showed opposition to Ricardo Lara's bill.
"I think it's intrusive and would represent an overreach by local government, if it passed," Tim Lloyd, chief executive officer of Rogue Capital Media, said in a email sent to Xinhua on Tuesday night, adding "It could allow city officials to pry into an unreasonable depth of personal, legal entity and business relationships that have nothing to do with Los Angeles or the scope of contractor operations."
