Local Rapper Returns Honor, Decries Mayor Response To Immigration Protests

SANTA ANA, CA — An Orange County rapper returned an acknowledgment from his hometown of Santa Ana following Mayor Valerie Amezcua's response to anti-ICE protests in the city.

Santa Ana rapper Jay Taj returned the acknowledgment that was gifted to him on June 3 in the city council chambers during Tuesday's city council meeting.

"While I remain grateful to the council members for this recognition... I can't hold onto it with your signature on it," he told Amezcua during the meeting. "So I came here to return this to the City of Santa Ana."

The musician told KTLA that returning the honor was not an easy decision to make.

"I returned the award to the mayor as a matter of morals. To display a plaque signed by someone who claims to see me, but refuses to see her constituents in their time of need," he said.

The condemnation comes after a Facebook post made by Amezcua scrutinizing protestors and her fellow city council members for demonstrating in the city.

"What we are seeing in Santa Ana right now is pure violence and destruction of our city and businesses," she wrote on Facebook. "Please go home and remember this is our city , do not destroy it. At some point this protest became nothing but pure chaos and violence."

During Tuesday's meeting, Amezcua addressed her initial comments.

"I do not support what is happening in our city and I never will. If I didn't respond fast enough, my apologies," she said.