Five reasons to demand that the Kent County Commission adopt Sanctuary policies at their meeting this Thursday

Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have invited people to attend the Kent County Commission meeting this Thursday, at 8:30am, to demand that the commissioners adopt sanctuary policies that would ultimately mean that Kent County would not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or support private entities that are profiting from ICE contracts. 

Anyone who attends will have a chance to speak during public comment in order to support these demands. If you are unable to attend in person, then make sure you sign the online Action Alert and share it with your people.

Here are 5 reasons why people should attend the Kent County Commission meeting this Thursday and why the Kent County Commissioners should adopt Sanctuary policies.

1. There have been numerous instances over the past 6 months, where the Kent County Sheriff’s Department has been seen during ICE arrests in Grand Rapids and the surrounding communities. In addition, GR Rapid Response to ICE received the following message from a family impacted by ICE violence, where the Kent County Jail directly cooperated with ICE by alerting them to an undocumented person in their custody. 

“My wife was driving home from Chicago. She was almost home. It was heading East on Michigan St, and was pulled over for speeding, just before reaching Ele’s Place which is a little before turning on Lakeside Dr.

She had a warrant out for her arrest in Ottawa County for a partially paid traffic ticket. They were going to let her go because she was going 10mph over at 0330 in the morning, but they noticed she had a warrant and so called me to pick up our son so that they could arrest her.

She was initially sent to Kent County Corrections. I paid her bond the following afternoon, and that’s when I was told that she is not allowed to leave due to a 48 hour ICE hold.

An ICE agent picked her up Monday morning at about 0840. I saw the vehicle go into the jail and leave with her. I followed the vehicle (safely) and they dropped her off in an unmarked building, which I later learned is the Department of Homeland Security building in downtown GR.

I stayed outside for a while, not knowing what to do. The agent saw me and immediately closed the garage door. About 15 minutes later (I was still outside the building), a van pulled up and an officer stepped out to pull out chains from the rear side of the van. I knew those were for her. They opened the garage doors, they greeted each other, and again noticed me still there. Once they saw me, they closed the garage door again. I left after about 5 minutes because my wife had contacted me by that point.”

She told me they were moving her to Battle Creek, Calhoun County Corrections. They did that and she’s been in there since. ICE agents told her that she wasn’t even on their radar and that they probably wouldn’t have looked for her if it were not for the jail reporting her.”

This recent first hand account is the same thing that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been hearing since ICE ended their contract with Kent County in 2019, where the Kent County Sheriff’s Department continues to notify ICE when some undocumented is processed into the Kent County Jail.

2. The Kent County Commissioners must adopt a policy to make sure that they will never permit an ICE detention center to be constructed in Kent County. In addition, the Kent County Commission needs to put an end to allowing the Kent County Jail to hold immigrants for ICE.

3. For several years, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department has been using 25 cameras that are spread around Kent County, cameras that relay information about vehicles and license plate numbers. According to a recent article on 404 Media, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now using what are called Flock cameras to obtain license plate numbers to track down undocumented immigrants. 

While state and local law enforcement agencies normally lack the authority to enforce federal immigration laws, the Trump administration has encouraged them to participate in a program called 287(g), a provision of the the Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes DHS agencies including ICE to delegate certain immigration enforcement actions to state and municipal police.

Using the Flock technology provides an additional tool to be used by the Kent County Sheriff’s Department, the GRPD and other local law enforcement agencies to assist ICE in hunting down those who are undocumented and those that the administration are targeting, regardless of immigration status. To see the exact location of the Flock cameras being used in Kent County, go to this link.

4. In March, it was announced that Avelo Airlines would be offering flights out of the Kent County Airport, with a few direct flights to North Carolina and Florida. In May of this year, Avelo Airlines entered into a $150 Million contract with ICE to transport immigrants directly to El Salvador, becoming  the first commercial airline to begin deportation flights, and running flights and hiring flight attendants in Mesa, AZ to fly people in ICE custody out of the country.

Several groups, including GR Rapid Response to ICE, have been calling for a boycott of Avelo Airlines since June, a boycott which is part of a national campaign to pressure the company to end their contract with ICE. As a follow up to a June 21st action, GR Rapid Response to ICE invited people to attend the Kent County Airport Authority’s monthly board meeting and to pressure the board members to demand that Avelo Airlines end its contact with ICE. 

The Kent County Airport Authority Board did not respond directly to the issues about Avelo Airlines that people raised during their monthly board meeting, but has since released the following statement:

“The airport is required by federal law to allow all airlines to use our gates as long as they comply with FAA rules and regulations and remain in good financial standing. To do otherwise would unfairly discriminate against an airline, which could jeopardize our FAA funding.”

The Kent County Airport Authority statement reveals several things. First, the Kent County Airport Authority is making it clear that even if private airlines have contracts with ICE, contracts that allows them to transport undocumented immigrants to El Salvador with little hope of justice, that this is NOT a violation of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). Indeed, having a contract to do harm to immigrants does not violate FAA rules and regulations, which means the FAA rules and regulations normalizes human rights abuses.

Second, the Kent County Airport Authority statement makes it clear that apart from not violating FAA rules and regulations, as long as Avelo Airlines remains “in good financial standing”, they can continue to profit off of human rights abuses. 

It is also worth noting that there are two Kent County Commissioners who sit on the Kent County Airport Board Authority, Commissioners Dan Burrill and Jennifer Merchant. We demand that they speak out against Avelo Airlines’ contract with ICE and adopt a policy to not support businesses that are profiting off of the arrest, detention and deportation of immigrants in Kent County. 

5. ICE violence and immigrant family separation are happening in Kent County every week. With the passing of the Big Beautiful Bill, there will be an additional $170 billion added to the budgets of ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants, and for a border wall and militarization in the next few years. Specifically, the bill includes funding for some of the following:

• $45 billion: for expanding detention capacity, including building new facilities and expanding existing ones. 
• $29.9 billion: for enforcement and removal operations, such as hiring more ICE personnel and providing transportation costs. 
• $10 billion: for a DHS cost-reimbursement fund related to border enforcement. 
• $12 billion: for state reimbursement related to border enforcement. 

In early June, ICE agents arrested at least 8 people who were at the ISAP office on Michigan Street in Grand Rapids while they were attending regularly scheduled appoints with ICE. ICE agents took those immigrants, some who are in detention and some have been deported. Actions like these are causing fear and trauma in the immigrant community. This is family separation, it is violence and it is happening right here in Kent County. If Kent County adopts the Sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response are calling for, it will not only send a message to the immigrant community that Kent County cares about the well being of immigrants, it will send a message to the federal government that Kent County will not cooperate with violence and immigrant family separation.

If you are able, please attend the Kent County Commission meeting this Thursday, at 8:30am, and demand that Kent County adopt these Sanctuary policies. For details on the meeting this Thursday and where to park, go to this link.