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Council members in Minneapolis have advanced a measure strengthening the city’s longstanding separation ordinance. The law already prohibits police officers and other city employees from enforcing federal immigration law. Many across the city feel an increased urgency for a local response amid the Trump Administration’s federal immigration crackdown.
The council sponsors added new language to the ordinance, emphasizing how strongly they feel about keeping city employees out of immigration enforcement.
It stresses that cooperation between the city and federal government would “have a chilling effect on immigrant populations’ willingness to report crime and cooperate with the city’s public safety efforts.”
Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, one of the sponsors, said at a committee hearing Tuesday that the city will not be doing the work of the federal government as it relates to immigration enforcement.
“The city of Minneapolis will be prioritizing using its limited, finite resources to advance the health and safety of its residents. And if our city personnel were to enforce federal immigration laws for the federal government, it would squander the limited municipal resources we have.”
The original separation ordinance has been on the books in Minneapolis since 2003, following Congress’ creation of the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The council passed the measure in response to concerns that the federal government would lean on cities to enforce immigration laws.
The new language would forbid Minneapolis from entering into any agreements with federal immigration enforcement agencies. More than a half dozen law enforcement agencies in Minnesota have formal agreements with DHS to partner with ICE, and the measure would block the city from taking similar actions.
If there’s any use of city public safety personnel during a federal immigration action, the departments involved would have to report to the council about the resources they used and to what extent they used them. The proposal would also require training for new city employees on the separation ordinance.
The ordinance doesn’t forbid the Minneapolis Police Department from cooperating with federal law enforcement across the board. MPD routinely partners with the FBI, ATF and other federal law enforcement agencies to investigate crimes such as drug trafficking or human trafficking. MPD has been working closely with those agencies in recent years in an effort to take down Minneapolis street gangs, using the RICO anti-racketeering law.
Language in the measure condemns federal agents for wearing masks and concealing their badges but does not prohibit them from doing so because the city has no legal authority over federal agents.
Dozens of residents commented on the measure at a hearing Tuesday.
They expressed anger and concern over recent immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis and St. Paul and called on council members to make the language as strong as possible.
Audrey Forticaux, who’s part of the social justice group Unidos, expressed the sentiments of many speakers who lined up to speak during a public hearing on the measure.
“We need real and effective measures to protect us all,” Forticaux said. “I am scared for my daughter’s day care workers. The majority of day cares in my area are all Hispanic people. And we’ve seen them being dragged out of daycares in other cities. It could happen here.”
The Minneapolis City Council is expected to take a final vote on the measure Thursday.
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