Immigrant Justice groups pay Mayor LaGrand a visit at his home to continue the push for Grand Rapids to adopt sanctuary policies

Last night, about 25 people from Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE went to the home of the Mayor of Grand Rapids in their campaign to get the city to adopt sanctuary policies. This action was a result of the cancelled City Commission meeting that was announced just hours after Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE posted information about an ICE Our of GR Rally at Calder Plaza.

The Sanctuary campaign initiated by the two groups began in early 2025, after they had general thousands of online demands and then presented those demands at a City Commission meeting in late January. Here are the demands they presented last night:

• 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.
• GRPD will not arrest people who GR Rapid Response to ICE mobilizes to prevent ICE from arresting and detaining members of the immigrant community.
• Policies that would prohibit the GRPD from using FLOCK camera technology that would be shared with ICE agents of other law enforcement groups.

While most people gathered in front of Mayor LaGrand’s home, 3 people went to his front door to present the demands and have a conversation with him. After repeated attempts to get the Mayor to open the door, those who showed up to his house realized that he was not going to answer the door.

Undeterred, those who showed up to the Mayor’s house continued to engage in chants, which got the attention of several neighbors and those who were on a nightly walk through the neighborhood. The response to what was being said was favorable and some people who were walking even decided to join the protest. 

In addition to the demands for the City of Grand Rapids to adopt sanctuary policies, several people spoke about why these policies were important, specifically to address the high level of fear and the violence of family separation that ICE is inflicting in this city. One person talked about a Salvadoran family that went into Sanctuary after the father was taken by ICE while attending his scheduled appointment with ICE.

Another person, who has been involved in accompaniment work that GR Rapid Response to ICE began after the ICE raid at the ISAP office on June 4th, talked about the level of fear that exists in the immigrant community and how the GRPD has been colluding with ICE by harassing and threatening those who have been accompanying immigrants to their appointments over the past month.

The immigrant justice activists who converged on Mayor LaGrand’s house last night know that winning sanctuary policies will not be easy, but they clearly communicated their resolve last night. In addition, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are inviting people to come to the July 29th Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to once again present their demands for sanctuary policies in this City.

Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE will continue to practice immigrant solidarity, to fight for immigrant justice and to resist ICE violence in this city. The question is, what will Grand Rapids City officials do? The Trump Administration just increased the ICE budget by billions of dollars, which means that people and institutions need to make a choice about how to respond. There is no middle ground on this matter, it is either immigrant solidarity or complicity with ICE violence. 

Here is a recording of the action at Mayor LaGrand’s house last night.