EASTHAMPTON — A month after a city councilor proposed designating Easthampton as a sanctuary city, some 140 residents sent a message of their own to the council this week — not here.
“We wish to make it known, that we, residents of Easthampton, are opposed to making Easthampton a sanctuary city,” according to a statement presented to the council at its Wednesday meeting.
Others in the community disagree, and last fall began asking the council to designate Easthampton as a sanctuary city. Councilor Jennifer Hayes, who proposed the designation at the council’s Dec. 7 meeting, said she did so after receiving an email with about 50 signatures from residents.
Meantime, Northampton leaders are doubling down on their status as a sanctuary city.
On Nov. 30 the Human Rights Commission approved a resolution reaffirming the city’s commitment, and requested copies of the measure be sent to local and national leaders — the president-elect included.
“My office mailed copies to all of the state and federal agencies identified in the resolution,” Mayor David Narkewicz said Thursday, adding he’s not received a response from Donald Trump since he sent it on Dec. 5.
Human Rights Commission member Laurie Loisel read the resolution during a City Council meeting on Thursday. Loisel told councilors that as a city resident she wants the most vulnerable in our community to know “they’re not alone.”
“I know some people say resolutions like these are like whistling in the wind,” she said. “I may have once thought that myself but I think differently now.”
Loisel spoke of a Boston woman who has lived in the U.S. for 14 years on a work permit, “but with no permanent citizenship, she’s in a precarious situation.” She said Trump’s proposed immigration policies oversimplify a complex reality.
“We can’t let the ideas espoused by our president-elect ever seem normal,” she said. “We have to stand against the normalization of what is, at the core, hate and fear and say: this is not the American way.”
In Easthampton, Hayes said councilors have received numerous emails and letters for and against the designation. On Wednesday, Hayes suggested that the written correspondence regarding residents’ views on the sanctuary city issue be posted online.
“I just want to make sure people are getting acknowledged and getting heard,” Hayes said.
The council’s ordinance subcommittee will discuss the matter Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the second floor meeting area of the municipal building. The meeting is open to the public.
By declaring itself a sanctuary city, Easthampton would forbid the use of municipal funds to assist federal agencies in seeking out and penalizing undocumented immigrants, and prohibit municipal employees from inquiring about individuals’ immigration status.
The designation is legal and penalizing cities that designate themselves as a sanctuary city is currently forbidden, according to Jeff Napolitano of American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts. Napolitano assisted with passing similar measures in neighboring communities such as a resolution in Amherst and an executive order in Northampton.
At the Dec. 7 council meeting, Police Chief Robert Alberti said the police department has a policy in place for protecting illegal immigrants who are victims or witnesses to a crime. He also said the department does not seek out immigration status.
Some supporters of the designation have said it will serve as a safeguard against the community from using local resources to enforce federal immigration laws.
Residents who cannot attend the ordinance subcommittee meeting can voice their opinion by emailing councilors. Contact information can be found on the city’s website at www.easthampton.org.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.
Amanda Drane can be reached at adrane@gazettenet.com.