Great Barrington — The town may soon have more detailed policy language that identifies it as a sanctuary city after a resident said she would consider creating a town citizens’ petition so that the matter can be voted on at Annual Town Meeting in May.
Great Barrington resident Erica Meilke told the Selectboard Monday she was “excited” about the board’s reaffirmation of its police department policy that undocumented residents have nothing to fear from local police and will be treated the same as everyone else. But she also said she found the resolution “a little vague” and was hoping to discuss what it “actually means.”
Board chair Sean Stanton suggested that one way to tighten the language and make it official was to create a citizens’ petition that, once signed by 10 people, can be added to the town meeting warrant, and Meilke appeared to have those signatures all lined up in the audience.
“That would be the, frankly, most powerful and fastest way to get it done,” Stanton added. “But you have to actually write it.”
As for writing the actual policy, Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin said it would be helpful to speak with both she and Chief William Walsh, since the department already uses a community policing approach and could help more clearly define a suggested policy since “sanctuary city” is not a legal term.
Brooke Mead of the Pittsfield-based Berkshire Immigrant Center explained that the term comes from the 1980s sanctuary movement, “where churches said, ‘you’re going to stay here’ ” to immigrants largely fleeing civil war in Central America. “People actually did go to churches.”
Mead said that Great Barrington, along with North Adams and Pittsfield, signed a “welcoming” resolution in 2008 that essentially reinforces the town’s policy and spreads the word about the town’s practices.
Meilke’s request came just two days after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, and a day before Trump lived up to his campaign promise to go after the 11 million undocumented U.S. residents in a variety of ways. One of those was his release of an executive order denying federal funding to sanctuary cities. A Reuters analysis and report said this could result in a $2.27 billion loss for the 10 largest cities in the country.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said the order was “unconstitutional” and that he “will do everything in my power to fight it.”
And mayors everywhere vowed Trump would have a battle on his hands. Boston mayor Martin Walsh said he would dig in hard to protect all the city’s residents, even if it meant using City Hall itself as a last resort,” and literally offered to house them there.
“If people want to live here, they’ll live here,” he said. “They can use my office. They can use any office in this building.”
Local outrage over the Trump administration’s latest actions sparked plans for a “Stand Out for Immigrants” at Park Square in Pittsfield this Saturday January 28 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., organized by the non-partisan Berkshires-based Four Freedoms Coalition. The event will be one of hundreds of protests across the country.
Tabakin told The Edge she had already spoken to Walsh about a possible petition and meeting with Mielke and others. She reiterated the town’s commitment to community policing and the role of local police.
“Essentially, we don’t have a local role to play in enforcing federal immigration law,” she said. “But if someone brings it to town meeting, it will reinforce and rearticulate our role.”
Tabakin also said it was up to local towns to define the policy and language, “and clarifying and restating things to get the message out.” That message being, most importantly, she said, that undocumented residents should not fear calling the police for assistance or to report a crime.
She said she had referred to a guide written by the New York Attorney General’s office that she found helpful.
Mead said there are a number of ways that an undocumented resident could come to the attention of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), including trouble at the border, a traffic stop, or committing a crime, which would automatically send fingerprints to ICE computers.
Then there is the question of honoring immigration detainers, which would hold someone on the separate issue of their status. With regard to these detainers, Mead said it was important for each city or town to “clearly define when police are involved with ICE and when they’re not — what if you did have a dangerous criminal?”
Mead noted that the Pittsfield Trust Act, currently under review by the Human Rights Commission, would prevent police from detaining someone over their immigration status. The trust act was proposed by attorney Rinaldo Del Gallo III, and modeled off others nationwide, including Boston.
Mead said ICE does good things, too, like investigate and root out human trafficking. And the agency does not have “an enormous army of people,” especially around here. The nearest agents are in Springfield and Hartford.
“ICE has never been in the practice of someone calling and sending someone out,” she added. “Anybody can pick up the phone and call ICE.” She said sometimes people will use a phone call to ICE to harass or intimidate undocumented citizens and ICE will often determine that.
Mead said that even “white immigrants from Europe are feeling scared since the election.”
“It has the potential to destroy your life by taking away your ability to live here and to keep working on the life that you’ve built.”
Mead said the Immigration Center encourages what Tabakin had suggested: that town and police officials do research, sit down together and with residents and immigration advocates, iron out the policies before introducing them.
“It’s what makes the whole community buy in and be united, which is the whole point.”