Sheriff says ‘sanctuary’ has no legal meaning
Several dozen community members participated in a forum on immigration Friday evening at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills.
The discussion focused on “sanctuary city” policies toward immigrants.
Law professor Mark Howenstein moderated the event. The panel also included the Rev. Frank Alagna of Holy Cross/Santa Cruz Episcopal Church, immigration attorney Mark Grunblatt and Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum.
Organizers said stricter immigration policies under the administration of President Donald Trump have affected families throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond. Resistance to those policies has sparked demonstrations across the country and the adoption of local “sanctuary city” policies designed to protect immigrants and limit cooperation with federal officials.
Alagna began the discussion with a lengthy, spiritual and moral argument in favor of leniency, based partly in scripture.
“The laws that institute borders are not absolute, and they melt away to insignificance in the face of human need,” Alagna said. “There is a more important, compelling law, which is, in fact, absolute, to care for someone in need, to extend mercy and justice to people, that is the first law.”
Grunblatt followed with an in-depth analysis of national immigration trends, from the perspective of a legal advocate. He noted that the actual letter of the law is fuzzy when examined closely, full of confusing and contradictory loopholes.
“The labels that get tossed around are legally full of exceptions and holes, and it’s a Swiss cheese kind of piece of law that you would want to think had something to do with justice, but it really doesn’t. These are just rules, and these rules keep shifting.” Grunblatt gave numerous examples, including noting that Cuban refugees by law automatically receive green cards giving them permanent legal status and a path to citizenship.
VanBlarcum began his statement with a very brief explanation of law enforcement policy, which he said was uniform throughout the state. Prisoners held in county jails are asked if they are born in the United States and U.S. immigration authorities are notified about all foreigners in custody. Federal agents may deport inmates upon release.
The policy is a longstanding, voluntary courtesy to fellow cops, VanBlarcum said, which he firmly stands behind. He said that any prisoner in his custody guilty of serious crimes in other countries risks repeating their behavior locally, a responsibility officials take seriously. VanBlarcum added, however, that the county sheriff does not follow up on any particular citizenship claims; it works on the honor system.
The sheriff said that, although well-meaning, memorializing resolutions passed by municipalities are political rhetoric.
“You have to understand that sanctuary city has no legal meaning,” VanBlarcum said. “It’s just a word. In fact, most resolutions that they’re coming up with now have taken out the word sanctuary altogether. If you make people think there’s a sanctuary, they’re going to come here and it’s not true, because everything the local police do, we’re still going to do it the same way.”
VanBlarcum said while the resolutions are “wellmeaning, there is a lot of politics involved.”