NL already protecting rights of residents
Passing the resolution is unnecessary because the city already has the tools and practices in place to protect the rights of all its residents.
T he City Council should reject a proposed resolution dictating how New London police should deal with its residents and interact with federal immigration enforcement officers. The proposed resolution begins with the stated “desire to protect the rights of all its residents.” Passing the resolution is unnecessary because the city already has the tools and practices in place to achieve that desired end.
A small local contingent of People Power — an activist group organized under the auspices of the American Civil Liberties Union — sees the resolution as a way of making a statement in support of undocumented immigrants who confront a more aggressive enforcement environment.
People Power would like to make the statement even stronger, pushing for an ordinance that would essentially make the policies a matter of city law, as opposed to the more advisory nature of the resolution discussed by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Monday.
In either form, it smacks of needlessly picking a fight; of daring Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Trump Administration to try to carry out their more aggressive enforcement policies in the Whaling City. It could potentially endanger federal funding if the administration follows through with threats to cut aid to so-called sanctuary cities. Such a move would likely fail a constitutional challenge, but would be disruptive nonetheless.
If New London were facing an imminent problem of overaggressive enforcement, or if it did not already have orders or policies in place to protect its residents, then legislative action by the council might be in order. Such is not the case.
The proposed resolution, for example, states that “city officials,” which primarily appears to mean police, “shall not inquire into the immigration or citizenship status of an individual except where the inquiry relates to a legitimate law enforcement purpose … unrelated to the enforcement of a civil immigration.”
That is already how New London operates.
In one of his first acts after taking office in December 2011, then-Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio issued an executive order stating police “shall not inquire into the immigration status of individuals that they come in contact with, except when that status pertains directly to a criminal investigation.”
That executive order remains in force. And there is a good reason for it. If individuals fear every interaction with local law enforcement will lead to an inquiry about their immigration status, they will be unwilling to assist police investigations or seek police help when victimized, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by criminals.
The proposed People Power resolution further states, “No city official shall question, arrest, detain or take other law enforcement act against an individual based only upon that individual’s perceived race, national origin, religion, language or immigration status.”
In this case we point to Mayor Finizio’s very first executive order: “The profiling of persons based upon their racial, religious, sexual and/or ethnic background as the sole or primary reasons for any stop … shall not be permitted or practiced by (city police).”
Arguably, the proposed resolution does break new ground in stating that city police must receive a judicial warrant before they detain any individual at the request of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or before they provide ICE access to city jail cells.
New London Police Chief Peter Reichard said this is already the policy and that the department would not be changing any of its current practices if the council were to approve the resolution.
New London is a community, not a cause. A community that embraces diversity and recognizes the rightfulness of treating everyone fairly. It does not need a resolution to set it straight.