BALTIMROE — As rumors swirl that there could be a surge of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity, protections are top of mind for city leaders.
Council chambers were a packed house on Tuesday for a hearing on the “Safe Spaces and Communities” Act.
“This is why this bill is so important right now and that the council is taking whatever action we can,” public safety chair Mark Conway said.
Nearly all city council supports for bill that prevents police, city agencies from cooperating with ICE
“ICE is in Baltimore. ICE is terrorizing families. I can give you several examples. And it may be that there is more coming, and we have to be ready, and that’s what we’re doing today,” District 14 Councilwoman Odette Ramos said.
The bill makes official much of what already has been city policy: non-cooperation with ICE unless legally required.
“A lot of officers don’t necessarily operate that way and certainly the citizenship of Baltimore does not already know that,” Conway explained. “It creates a lot of ambiguity on how to deal with these incidences where we see ICE officers asking for things from city agencies or from police officers and we want to make sure that it’s crystal clear that we’re not participating in any way shape or form.”
The bill requires if police or a city agency receive a request from an immigration official about an individual, whether to detain them or learn of their whereabouts, that the official's ID must be asked for and documented and the individual in question must be notified within 48 hours.
Police would also be required to document any interactions with immigration officials on their body-worn camera, request their credentials and verify their identity by requesting they remove their mask or face covering. This, in addition to asking why an individual is being held and what their name is.
“This is a city that knows what it means to resist oppression and the cost to stay silent," District 8 Councilman Paris Gray said. Council Bill 26-0144 is an act of that resistance."
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“I’m so proud of the city,” Barbara Stanton, who attended the meeting, said.
Stanton, a Federal Hill resident for 19 years, says she is worried about the impact of ICE on her neighbors.
“My mother is a Nazi Germany survivor, and we've seen this before,” she said. “ICE is like the Nazis were.”
The bill has near-unanimous support, except from District 5 Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer.
Legal experts and activists shared their support of the bill. Though, not all could speak for themselves.
As was the case for an asylum seeker, Mahan Adnan Robel, who was detained by ICE during a routine check in. According to written testimony from family, afraid of retribution if they spoke publicly, Robel had escaped conflict in Ethiopia and had been following all of the requirements.
A city school teacher wrote in about how students from immigrant families have stopped attending classes.
A first responder also wrote about their experience responding to call about a person detained at the ICE Baltimore Field Office experiencing a seizure. They wrote that DHS employees showed little care or urgency for the person, or those detained banging on the glass asking for medical attention.
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“I was crying. I can't help it. I just cried,” Stanton said.
William Herman also attended the meeting. He’s part of Indivisible Baltimore, a group that’s been speaking out against the Trump Administration most notably through its “No Kings” protests. Herman has been spreading the word on legal advice and important contact information through business cards, flyers and pocket guides as the administration has been ramping up immigration enforcement.
Also concerned about a surge, he hopes there will be protection for legal observers if it comes to that.
“It’s kind of vague if they'll protect observers or bystanders and people recording. Because in other places they have gotten knocked down, beaten up, arrested," he said.
The bill states that the Baltimore Police Department "may be present at the scene of an immigration enforcement action to de-escalate any direct threat to life or public safety."
If the bill passes, every year agencies will be required to submit to the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs how many times immigration officials have requested information and if it was ever provided in violation of this legislation.