“We said it once. We said it twice. We will not put up with ICE.”
“OK, your conduct is disrupting the meeting, you are committing a breach of the peace. I’m asking you to leave the meeting.”
Mayor David LaGrand had security remove protestors.
Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE are demanding city leaders declare Grand Rapids a Sanctuary City.
They want policies protecting against immigration violations and deportments. A woman identifying herself as Sheldon spoke during public comment.
“We are responsible for governing our own policies as a city and we can in fact legally enact policies that will make it harder for ICE to operate and steal up the people in our neighborhoods. “
City leaders have previously said a sanctuary city declaration fails to provide legal protection, instead contributing to a false sense of security.
Police Chief Eric Winstrom stated his department is not in the business of immigration enforcement.
Commissioner Kelsey Purdue emphasized policies are in place.
“Someone said that we are already on the radar as a county for sanctuary policies or being a sanctuary place. That is because we have a lot of the policies that already say we are going to use our resources to do the work of the city of Grand Rapids not any other agencies work.”
Second Ward Commissioner Milinda Ysasi added she views federal demands for cooperation with immigration enforcement as “unfunded mandates and a violation of local control.”
“I think it’s something we are continuing to monitor and communicate very closely with our police department.”
Commissioners also invited residents to continue discussing the issue either in scheduled face-to-face conversations or in upcoming town hall meetings.
