There was a tremendous outpouring of public support for Grand Rapids to declare itself a Sanctuary City

Over the past two months, GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR had been meeting to discuss and plan to pressure the City of Grand Rapids to declare itself a Sanctuary City.

While engaged in a hunger strike in Lansing to win Driver’s Licenses for undocumented immigrants in early December, Movimiento Cosecha organizer Gema Lowe had struck up a conversation with newly elected Mayor David LaGrand. She asked him if he would support Grand Rapids becoming a Sanctuary City. LaGrand responded by saying that “we have to do a whole lot more than that.” The immigrant justice organizer said, “But we are asking you as the new Mayor of Grand Rapids to get behind GR being a Sanctuary City.” Mayor LaGrand would not make a commitment that day nearly two months ago.

Last night there were easily over 100 people who had come to the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to demand that they declare Grand Rapids a Sanctuary City and commits to preventing the Grand Rapids Police Department from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and any law enforcement agency that seek to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants. These two demands were part of an online Action Alert that was sent to the Mayor, the 6 Commissioners, the City Manager, the City Attorney and the City Clerk. These 10 Grand Rapids City officials have each received over 2,000 electronic messages to meet these two demands.

There were so many people who came to speak about GR becoming a Sanctuary City that the meeting didn’t end until 11:30pm. Besides the City Chambers being packed, there were more than 50 people people who had to wait in the lobby to watch the commission meeting before being able to come up to the 9th floor to give public comment, and that doesn’t include the countless people who didn’t stay the entire time because people have lots of other responsibilities to attend to.

There were members of the affected community who spoke about what it is like to live in constant fear of “La Migra”, often fighting back tears as the recounted witnessing their parents or other family members being deported. One immigrant told the Commissioners that he learned how to respond be prepared if ICE came to his home even before he learned how to do simple math.Many immigrants talked about how hard they have worked to support their families, often on minimum wage jobs, while other immigrants have created their own businesses, pay taxes and do the work that no one else wants to do in West Michigan. 

There were countless allies who got up to speak, with many of them talking about their own heritage and which generation they were, since most of us a from immigrant families. Rev. Doug Van Doren stated that Grand Rapids is already a Sanctuary City for him, since he doesn’t have to worry about ICE coming to take him or his family away. Many of the allies spoke about their work as teacher, counselors, social workers, and pastors, where they are confronted with the daily realities and daily reminders of the simple fact that undocumented immigrants never know when ICE will come for them and their families because they don’t have documentation. 

You can watch and listen to the testimony from over 100 people who were calling for the City of Grand Rapids to declare itself a Sanctuary city at this link.

There were two people who not only spoke against the demand to make GR a Sanctuary city and both of these white men used racist, xenophobia rhetoric that was filled with the ideological talking points that have been coming out of the mouth of Donald Trump since he first began campaigning for the presidency in 2016.

City Officials respond

Before I get to how city officials responded the 3 hour long public comments, it is important to note that the City Manager spoke before public comment. Mark Washington wanted to try to convince those who sent letters and those who spoke last night that  the city already had robust immigration policies in place, such as their equity policies and the fact that the Chief of Police has already come out and said that the GRPD will not enforce federal immigration policy.

As someone who has followed these matters closely for years, the policy that the City Manager was referring to, is known as the Foreign National’s Policy. 

This policy clear states:

The policy allows officers to provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency that poses an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents.  

Many of us from GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha are all too familiar that the rhetoric of the City and the GRPD is in dark contrast to what they practice. See my article entitled, the criminalization of dissent in Grand Rapids.

What follows are some of the responses by Grand Rapids City officials to the overwhelming demand for GR to declare itself a sanctuary.

Commissioner Belchak stated that there are no easy answers and there were probably as many people who would oppose GR being a Sanctuary City, they just didn’t show up. Now, there is no way she could know this, but the fundamental difference is that what was on display last night was a demonstration of organized people getting behind a specific cause.

Commissioner Perdue stated that decisions like this are not hard, but dangerous. She thinks that being a Sanctuary could do more harm than good.

Commissioner Ysasi acknowledges all the effort that has gone into this campaign. She stated it was an emotional evening, with lots of stories and fears. She brought up the fact that we have also been pressing the GRPS to declare themselves a Sanctuary School District. Commissioner Ysasi then speaks to the CDBG grants they receive from the federal government, which could be put at risk if GR becomes a Sanctuary City.

Commissioner Kilgore said it is scary, since he is the first queer person to be a City Commissioner. “We have good policies, but we have to make them more embodied,” he said.

Commissioner Knight talks about Trump and previous administrations, then asks us to use this energy everyday to deal with the homeless, etc. She has heard from non-profits who don’t have funding and can’t give out gas card. It felt like she was talking down to us about the political reality, like we are aware of what is coming and what has been happening for decades. She kept says, “8 days,” referring to the brief time since Trump became President again. We all know that these issues are inter-related and we know how to have an intersectional lens when thinking about systems of oppression work.

Mayor LaGrand said he was glad to know people are willing to act, but he didn’t seem to acknowledge or understand that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been acting since 2017 around immigration justice matters. LaGrand says the overarching concern is for care and compassion. While I don’t disagree with this sentiment, people were demanding action from the city.. LaGrand then said something that shocked people, He said that they were not really hearing from the affected community. I counted at least several dozen from the affected community. Then there is the issue that many people from the affected community don’t feel safe at City hall during these meetings because there are always cops there. 

Now, I definitely felt frustrated with the responses, but after reflecting on it on the way home last night I reminded myself that we already had a victory last night. Sure, Grand Rapids City officials did not meet our demands, but they have heard from several thousand people, plus the local news media has been reporting on these issues for more than a week. Our collective efforts have forced elected officials and the public at large to think about immigration policy and the realities that undocumented immigrants face every day. This is what we call polarization, where people can’t be neutral and need to pick a side. Which side are you on?