The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted Thursday to strengthen the city’s separation ordinance, which prohibits city workers from helping enforce federal immigration laws.
Council Member Jason Chavez said the recent influx of federal agents into Minneapolis has been “disheartening” and in addition to targeting Somali people, has sent the Latino community into the shadows, with people afraid to go to stores or even move their cars during a snow emergency.
“The color of your skin is not a crime,” he said. “Being an immigrant is not a crime.”
Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said the city has “slipped into a complete crisis” with people being “ripped away from their communities.”
The measure passed by the council:
- Clarifies that city resources and personnel, including city-contracted vendors, cannot be used for immigration enforcement, including facilities, equipment, data and technology.
- Bans city-owned or controlled parking lots, ramps, vacant lots and garages from being used for staging, processing, an operations base, or any other similar use in connection with immigration enforcement.
- Bans the use of city resources to set up a perimeter or control public areas to enforce federal immigration laws.
- Requires all city staff to be trained on the separation ordinance.
- Requires the reporting of data on complaints for violations of the ordinance.
- Requires a report to the City Council when federal agencies request assistance from the city.
- Requires the mayoral administration to inform the City Council as soon as possible when it becomes aware of an ongoing action to enforce federal immigration laws.
The council also passed a resolution stating its position on how police officers should be disciplined if they violate the ordinance – including the possibility of suspension, demotion and termination – and their opposition to any use of “less-lethal” weapons for crowd control.
Separately, the budget adopted by the council includes nearly $528,000 in funding for immigration legal services – the highest ever spent on this program – and an additional staffer in the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to provide community engagement and support for immigrant and refugee communities.
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