The same day this week that federal immigration officials published their first list of jurisdictions uncooperative with detainment policies, Amherst officials took steps to ratchet up the town’s designation as a sanctuary community.
The Select Board on Monday unanimously recommended that Town Meeting approve a bylaw which would guide police interactions with Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials, limit information that can be collected about a person’s immigration status, and prohibit anyone affiliated with town government from being complicit with any type of Muslim registry.
The bylaw would strengthen a resolution adopted by Town Meeting in 2012 that asks town officials, including police, not to comply with the federal Secure Communities Act — particularly refusing “detainer” requests by ICE for local authorities to keep an undocumented immigrant in custody for up to 48 hours so deportation procedures can begin.
Town Meeting, which begins April 26, will be asked to adopt stronger language ordering law enforcement officials not to inquire about a person’s immigration status unless required by federal or state law, and not to act on a detainer request by ICE unless the federal agency has a criminal warrant.
We urge Town Meeting to approve the bylaw that members of the Amherst Sanctuary Committee say will send a message to immigrants that they are in a safe community, regardless of their status.
Supporters of sanctuary communities cite research concluding that immigrants are less likely to report crimes if they fear being asked for documentation of their status.
Andrew Steinberg, a Select Board member, cited his own family, with his parents immigrating to the United States as refugees from Nazi Germany in 1937. “Our history of not always being the welcoming country we wish we were has a history, and it’s always painful to see history repeating itself,” he said.
Based on the earlier resolution, Amherst, as well as Northampton, are among a handful of Massachusetts cities and towns identified as sanctuary communities, which generally are defined as places where local police decline to cooperate with federal officials to deport undocumented immigrants who otherwise have not committed a crime. Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz issued an executive order in 2014 stating that the city will not honor noncriminal detainer requests filed by ICE.
On Monday, that agency issued its first weekly report identifying uncooperative jurisdictions. In the report, ICE said it issued 3,083 detainers between Jan.28 and Feb. 3, and 206 were denied. None of those were in New England.
Besides Amherst and Northampton, Boston, Cambridge and Somerville are the Massachusetts communities listed among 96 towns, cities, counties and prisons nationwide with policies that limit cooperation with federal officials to detain undocumented immigrants.
The list resulted from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January directing the government to report which local jurisdictions are not cooperating with federal efforts to find and deport illegal immigrants. Trump has strongly criticized local officials who are lenient with illegal immigrants, and he has vowed to end federal funding for sanctuary communities.
However, it was not clear whether being included on the ICE list would immediately endanger any federal grants given to those communities. Any move to end funding is expected to trigger legal challenges.
Northampton receives about $3.2 million in federal grants annually, which is about 3 percent of the city’s budget. The federal money pays for services such as home repairs for elderly people and other residents who cannot afford them. In Amherst, federal funding totals about $1.5 million for programs that address social issues such as domestic violence and hunger.
Easthampton city councilors in February ended their deliberation about becoming a sanctuary community after heated debate among residents. Some expressed concern that the move would cost Easthampton federal funds.
Trump must be more realistic in securing the nation’s borders against terrorists than his fanciful plan to build a wall, unconstitutional travel bans against Muslims and enlistment of local communities to help with mass deportations. Meanwhile, during a time when millions of immigrants in the United States continue to face an uncertain future, it is important that communities like Amherst and Northampton declare themselves welcoming and reject complicity with the president.