Another misleading MLive article about ICE, cops and Sanctuary cities in Michigan

On Friday, MLive posted a story with following headline, “ICE is partnering with more local police agencies, but not in Michigan.”

The article strangely begins by quoting a Sheriff from Washtenaw County and Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom, both of which claim that they are not cooperating with ICE. Just because these local law enforcement spokespersons are making a claim doesn’t mean their departments aren’t cooperating with ICE. I don’t have experience with Washtenaw County, but I have been directly involved in immigration matters in Grand Rapids and there is plenty of evidence over the years that the GRPD and the Kent County Sheriff’s Department have been cooperating with ICE. The case of Jilmar Ramos Gomez is probably the case that received the most local and national news coverage.

In fact, shortly after the Jilmar Ramos Gomez case, the City of Grand Rapids was forced to create a policy about interacting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), known as the Foreign National’s Policy. This policy clearly 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. The GRPD always gets to decide when public safety is being threatened, which often happens when they believe that systems of power are being challenged, like people trying to prevent ICE from arresting and detaining immigrants.

When Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE initiated their campaign to get the City of Grand Rapids to declare the city a Sanctuary, this action came with several demands, which included: (Note: you can still sign that Action Alert)

• policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants;
• policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status;
• policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which ICE deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law;
• policies that prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention;
• policies preventing immigration detention centers in Grand Rapids.

Mayor LaGrand has gone on record that he opposes Grand Rapids becoming a Sanctuary City would give immigrants a “false sense of hope.” On the contrary, if Grand Rapids adopted the policies listed above, it would concretely mean the GRPD would not be cooperating with ICE in direct ways. 

The MLive article I cited earlier in this post, specifically mentions the 287(g) program, which would allow ICE to deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law. Policies such as these would give the Sanctuary declaration real teeth, not a false sense of hope, as Mayor LaGrand claims. 

The MLive article also mentions Michigan law enforcement agencies and schools would cooperate with ICE if they have a judicial warrant, which the GRPD and the Grand Rapids Public Schools have said they would honor. This is cooperation, which any governing body can question and refuse to comply with.

Lastly, the MLive article mentions that, “The Michigan House passed a resolution earlier this month threatening to withhold funding from any city, county or university that has a policy to “subvert immigration enforcement in any way” or “refuses to comply with federal immigration enforcement measures.”

MLive article never cities immigrants

The response from Movimiento Cosecha to this threat of with-holding state funds for cities that declare themselves sanctuaries is powerful. Cosecha organizer Gema Lowe said:

If the State of Michigan were to withhold funds to Grand Rapids because they were a Sanctuary City, the city could first ask the people who have their names on the buildings all over this city, to donate funds to cover the cost of lost state or federal funds. Of course, it is not likely that this would happen. However, we have a saying, “Everything we need is right here in our community.” We believe that if the State or the Federal government were to withhold funds because the City of Grand Rapids decided to defy the arrest, detainment and deportation of immigrants, people in this community would step up and contribute with money, time or skills to meet the needs of people in Grand Rapids. In fact, it would galvanize the community and demonstrate that “we take care of us.” 

The City of Grand Rapids has no real excuse to not declare itself a Sanctuary, it is simply a matter of political will, especially since we know that 3204 people are on record as supporting GR being a Sanctuary City, while only 16 people have gone on record as being opposed. The City better starts listening to its people.