All this week we鈥檝e paid special attention to the immigration debate in this country, especially how that鈥檚 playing out in Painesville in Lake County. Some call Painesville 鈥淟ittle Leon鈥� after the Mexican city where many in Painesville鈥檚 Hispanic community have connections.
The city manager this week announced a community task force to review a police policy of reporting certain arrests to federal authorities. That policy, 413, had drawn loud support and opposition inside and outside of city council meetings.
Our series wraps up today, first with a listen to some of the voices we encountered reporting this story, from diverse local and national sources鈥�
Father in the U.S. on a work permit: 鈥淚t's very hard because there, there aren't as many opportunities as there are here. I've been coming to this country to work for 23 years. I work very hard so that my daughter and son can get a good education, because here, this country has so many job and other opportunities, and in Mexico, there aren't these opportunities. That's why we came here, to work for a better future for our children, and to take care of the family that we have there [in Mexico].鈥�
Daniel Dunlap, Lake County Sheriff: 鈥淲e鈥檙e not heavy-handed. The media is doing a great disservice to the country鈥攁 lot of folks, not you in particular鈥攂ecause they love it. They sell more newspapers, and they鈥檝e revved up the community. Three people, let鈥檚 think about this, three to four people in a year have been reported to ICE after, after, they committed crimes against the community and endangered others.鈥�
Candelaria Hernandez (translated by a friend): She鈥檚 in the process of deportation right now. Her older son of course he already made his own family, so he鈥檚 gonna stay here with his own family, but she鈥檚 going to take her daughter with her back down there.
Thomas Homan, Acting Director of ICE, testifying to the House Appropriations Committee: 鈥淲e can鈥檛 send the message get by the border patrol, get in the interior, as long as you don鈥檛 go and break another law, you鈥檙e home-free. Then you鈥檙e never going to gain control of the border.鈥�
Questioner Rep. David Price (D-N.C.): "But by that standard you鈥檙e talking about every immigrant in the country without papers."
Homan: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e in this country illegally and you committed a crime by entering this country, you should be uncomfortable, you should look over your shoulder. And you need to be worried.鈥�
Faviola: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e scared, every time when somebody knock me at my door, I鈥檓 scared I say oh my God, they can be immigration. I鈥檝e had my house, already I lived in there for 11 years. I鈥檓 stay here, you know. I have five boys. I support my kids in school. I volunteer when people need me. I鈥檓 not a criminal, you know. I鈥檝e not kill anybody, I鈥檓 not robber, you know.鈥�
Oscar Ornelas: 鈥淚f the government gives us the opportunity to educate the people, I think the crime will be less, less, and less. Kids need to find the way to be more for this country, but if we stop their dreams they鈥檙e gonna step back and do something wrong, something different.鈥�
Ganzer: 鈥淛ust some of the voices we encountered in reporting our series on the immigration debate. Even though we paid special attention to Painesville, cities all across the state and the country are making decisions about how they will, or won鈥檛, work with the federal government on immigration law. ideastream鈥檚 Nick Castele is here now to give us a bigger-picture view. Hi, Nick.鈥�
Castele: 鈥淗ey, Tony.鈥�
Ganzer: 鈥淪o we hear about communities, for example calling themselves sanctuary cities, but what does that really mean?鈥�
Castele: 鈥淲ell, there is no agreed-upon legal definition for the term sanctuary city. In general, this term refers to a city that limits, in some way, how much local police are involved in enforcing immigration law, or sharing information about people鈥檚 citizenship status with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. But there鈥檚 no true definition. Now I spoke with Steve Volk, he is a professor of Latin American history at Oberlin College. And he was involved in drafting a resolution that was passed in Oberlin that limits when the city collects immigration status of its citizens. He says that term, sanctuary city, can really be misunderstood. On one hand, people might think police will prevent ICE from serving search warrants, or arrest warrants, and arresting people鈥攁nd that鈥檚 not the case. On the other hand, people might think that undocumented immigrants are more shielded from deportation than the really are. Let鈥檚 take a listen.鈥�
Steve Volk: 鈥淎nd in that context, I come back to the sense that sanctuary is a symbolic statement of how we stand with our residents, but it cannot protect you from a legally served warrant. It just won鈥檛.鈥�
Castele: 鈥淪o I think if you鈥檙e trying to determine if your community or any other community is a sanctuary city, or how exactly they work together or don鈥檛 work with ICE, there are some questions you could ask. One is, will local police report people to ICE if they do not have legal status? Or under what circumstances would they do that? Would they do it only if someone is charged with a crime, and if so, what severity of crime are we talking about? You could also ask, do the county jails report people to ICE who come through their doors who do not have legal status in the country? And another question to ask is, if ICE does ask a local jail to hold someone because they are an undocumented immigrant鈥攊t鈥檚 something called a detainer鈥攄oes that local jail honor that detainer or do they let the person go?鈥�
Ganzer: 鈥淣ow you mentioned Oberlin鈥檚 policy on immigration status issues. What has that city decided to do or not to do?鈥�
Castele: 鈥淲ell, Oberlin updated a measure that it passed originally several years ago, and just this year they updated this. They said city services will not be denied based on someone鈥檚 immigration status. This resolution also said that the city won鈥檛 ask people their immigration status if they are witnesses or victims of crime, or people who are calling the city for some kind of help. The resolution also says that city staff are not prevented from cooperating with immigration authorities when they鈥檙e required to do so by law. Now here鈥檚 Steve Volk again.鈥�
Volk: 鈥淥ur statement said not that police defy the law in any way, but not go beyond what was legally required of the police department, which is to carry out its own duties, and not to get involved in issues which are a federal matter.鈥�
Castele: 鈥淪o you can see that things are not quite so clear-cut. One example here. Oberlin is in Lorain County. And if someone is undocumented and they鈥檙e arrested on some local offense, there鈥檚 a chance they could be booked into Lorain County jail. Well, if that鈥檚 the case, the jail says, it will notify ICE when people come through the doors but don鈥檛 have legal status. I spoke with the administrator of the jail, and he said while that is true, the jail also does not hold people merely at ICE鈥檚 request for immigration status issues. So if someone is arrested on a local charge, and ICE wants to hold them there, if they post bond on their local charge, they are free to go. Now the administrator of the jail said that doesn鈥檛 happen very often, but you can see how things are not perfectly clear-cut.鈥�
Ganzer: 鈥淪o if there鈥檚 not a clear definition, really, of what a sanctuary city is, maybe this is a tough question, but the Trump administration has pledged a crackdown on 鈥榮anctuary cities,鈥� have any Ohio cities been wrapped up in this?鈥�
Castele: 鈥淲ell, Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a list of cities that the government said were sanctuaries. He sent these jurisdictions letters and said your federal funding could be threatened if you continue to not work with us. There were no Ohio cities on that list. Cincinnati this year did call itself a sanctuary city, but they were not on the attorney general鈥檚 list of so-called sanctuary cities. There鈥檚 another way that the government had been trying to put some pressure on local communities to cooperate. ICE had been releasing lists of their detainer requests that were not honored. A couple weeks after they started doing this, as the New York Times and some others reported, there was pushback from cities about what they said were inaccuracies in these reports. And ICE decided to put the program on hold while they evaluated, and they haven鈥檛 released any new info in several months.鈥�
