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The Minneapolis City Council approved changes to an ordinance Thursday that prohibits city employees from enforcing federal immigration laws.
Among other things, the new ordinance codifies the mayor's executive order that forbids federal immigration agents from using city owned parking lots, ramps, vacant lots and garages as part of their operations. The updated ordinance also prohibits the city from entering into agreements with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws.
Changes to the ordinance have been discussed at City Hall well before the recent surge in federal immigration enforcement, which began Dec 1.
Council member Jason Chavez said the changes are needed now more than ever.
"What we are seeing across Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota is disheartening,” he said. “We're seeing Somali citizens being detained and discriminated, Latino citizens being stopped and questioned. And what's most disheartening from all of this is our undocumented immigrants as a whole are being arrested, detained, deported and not being able to come home."
Council member Aurin Chowdhury added that during the council discussion, she was receiving real-time messages from people in her ward who were witnessing the actions of ICE agents.
“They are targeting community members based off of the color of their skin and the language that they speak,” she said. “They are spraying chemical irritants into the faces of our community members who are using their First Amendment rights. And they are trying to intimidate all of us and also divide us and to say that one part of our community is garbage or dangerous when that is absolutely wrong.”
ICE officials have said the operation in the Twin Cities targets people who are in the country illegally and have criminal records. But there have been accounts of U.S. citizens being arrested by federal agents. It is also not clear how many people arrested during the operation have criminal records.
The city's separation ordinance was created more than 20 years ago and has not been significantly updated until now.
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