Buffalo mayor limits city cooperation with federal immigration enforcement

Jan. 27 (UPI) — Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan has issued an executive order limiting the city’s government from assisting with federal civil immigration enforcement, as the Trump administration executes an aggressive immigration crackdown.

“New Americans have helped to rebuild the city of Buffalo. We want everyone living in Buffalo not to be afraid,” Ryan said Monday in a recorded statement.

“We want new Americans to be able to call the police, the fire, the building inspector and come on down and get a permit to register your dog without fear that somehow interacting with the city would make it so ICE gets involved.”

The executive order is the first Ryan has signed. He was inaugurated as the mayor of Buffalo, N.Y., on Jan. 1.

A statement from his office says the executive order prohibits the use of city personnel, funds and resources for federal civil immigration enforcement, applies to all city departments and codifies existing practices Buffalo already follows.

It also prohibits city employees from collecting immigration status information except where required by law, limits access of federal immigration law enforcement to non-public city facilities absent a judicial warrant and directs departments to protect due process rights for individuals in city custody.

“By drawing a clear line, we strengthen public safety, protect due process and keep Buffalo taxpayers from funding federal civil immigration enforcement while continuing to fully enforce criminal law and comply with all legal obligations,” Ryan said in a social media statement.

Neither Ryan nor the city said the order makes Buffalo a so-called sanctuary city, which is a region that limits its cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Proponents argue sanctuary city policies promote trust between local communities and their police, while opponents say they interfere with federal immigration enforcement.

President Donald Trump has targeted sanctuary cities during his second administration. In August, the Justice Department published a list of 35 of these states, cities and jurisdictions with such policies to face federal action.

On Jan. 13, Trump announced he plans to freeze federal funds for sanctuary regions.

Ryan signed the executive order amid growing concerns about Trump’s immigration crackdown after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal immigration officers in the past few weeks in Minneapolis.

Civil, immigration and human rights activists, along with Trump administration critics and Democrats, have accused federal agents of violating due process rights, detaining U.S. citizens, racial profiling and using excessive force.

Several organizations thanked Ryan for signing the executive order on Monday.

“When local authorities cooperate with federal civil immigration enforcement, they corrupt the essential public services that ought to be available to all without fear,” Paul Linden-Retek, co-director of the Buffalo Human Rights Center, said in a statement.

“We have seen that such cooperation has resulted in violations of the constitutional and human rights of Western New Yorkers — rights to due process and equal protection, to health and education and the right to seek asylum. With this Executive Order, Mayor Ryan and the city of Buffalo make clear they will not be complicit in such violations.”…Read more by Darryl Coote