Maywood, CA. – 96 Percent Hispanic Sanctuary City – Disbands Police, Fires All Employees to Avoid Financial Collapse

At LAT, "Maywood to hire others to run the city." The city's 96.4 percent Hispanic with almost half the population illegal aliens:

Maywood's $10.1-million general fund budget has a deficit of at least $450,000, officials said. Beyond that, the city has been unable to obtain insurance because of a history of lawsuits, many involving its Police Department, which also patrols Cudahy. Operating without insurance would make even routine government services highly risky.

"We're limited on our choices and limited on what we can do," Councilman Felipe Aguirre said. "We don't want to file for bankruptcy. We don't want to disappear as a city."

Aguirre said filing for bankruptcy was not an option for Maywood because its problems were related specifically to insurance coverage and not cash flow.

But during a contentious City Council meeting that stretched late into Monday night, opponents of the plan accused council members of managing the city incompetently by failing to maintain the city's insurance coverage.

"You single-handedly destroyed the city," Lizeth Sandoval, the city treasurer, told the City Council ....

The action is yet another blow for the predominantly Latino city of 45,000 residents densely packed into about 1.2 square miles in the heavily industrial southeast part of Los Angeles County. Officials estimate about half the city's residents are illegal immigrants.

Maywood has had a contentious history for years. In the last decade, shouting matches have erupted during council meetings, election campaigns have been marked by political hit pieces, and even an accusation was made that a city clerk tried to have a councilman killed.

The Police Department has been the focus of troubles as well. Four years ago, the department faced a political outcry when it began running checkpoints that resulted in hundreds of cars being taken away from unlicensed illegal immigrants. Critics charged the checkpoints were an attempt to make money off Maywood's large illegal immigrant population.

The checkpoint sparked a political movement that brought a new council that was more sympathetic to illegal immigrants. But Maywood was back in the headlines when it declared itself a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, making the town a target of conservative talk radio and TV news shows.

And at KTLA, "City of Maywood is on the verge of complete financial collapse":