Newburgh defiant on ‘sanctuary city’ status
NEWBURGH, N.Y. » The city will remain a “safe and welcoming city” as resolved last March and will apply for federal funds to pay for four additional police officers without certifying adherence to Immigration and Customs Enforcement rules to inform on people’s backgrounds.
City Manager Michael Ciaravino said he opposed the city changing its position, which effectively makes the city a part of the “sanctuary city” movement to not aid federal officials.
Other area municipalities that have taken a similar position include Kingston and New Paltz, among others.
“At the end of the day, I do not believe that the City
of Newburgh, the birthplace of the Republic, the place where the United States first took its stand for freedom, should be intimidated and harassed and bullied because we might lose four granted positions,” Ciaravino said.
Council members unanimously supported that position.
“If we change our minds, we fall right into hands of the president,” said Councilwoman Regina Angelo.
Councilwoman Genie Abrams took a page from President Ronald Reagan’s June 12, 1987, speech at the Berlin Wall in West Germany, when he declared, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” At the meeting Monday, Abrams said, “Mr. City Manager, rip up this contract.”
Mayor Judy Kennedy said the city would not give in to a “strong-arm tactic” from Washington.
“We can do the impossible,” Kennedy said. “We are doing it now.”
A federal judge ruled Friday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions can’t follow through — at least for now — with his threat to withhold public safety grant money to Chicago and other so-called sanctuary cities for refusing to impose new tough immigration policies. The judge said the city had shown a “likelihood of success” in arguing that Sessions exceeded his authority with requirements that cities notify immigration agents when someone in the country illegally is about to be released from local jails and to allow agents access to the jails.
Newburgh Councilwoman Karen Mejia, herself an immigrant, said Monday that, while she supports standing by the city’s resolve, potentially losing a federal law-enforcement grant could harm the city’s bottom line.
But there was agreement that officials would seek alternate methods of funding while not compromising its principles.
Prior to the council’s decision to let stand their “safe and welcoming city” resolution, more than a half dozen people spoke in favor of standing up to Washington and not changing the city’s status.