While President Donald Trump says he will take strict measures against immigration laws, St. Paul has an ordinance of 20 years that staff in the city do not ask people about their immigration status.
The ordinance says all residents have access to urban services. This means that people should not worry that an urban employee “will ask someone to see his documents before leaving them in a recreation center or investigating a crime,” said Mayor Melvin Carter in a recent interview.
Trump, who had taken office for his second term on Monday, said he would deport millions and millions of people. The Congress has adopted a part of his plan, the Licon Riley law, which extends the requirements for immigration authorities to hold illegally anyone in the country accused of theft and violent crimes.
In St. Paul and Minneapolis, employees adopted ordinances years ago with the intention of local employees not to be involved in the implementation of the federal immigration law. Pioneer Press examined how the St. Paul Ordinance works, what local prisons require to keep people for the US immigration and customs services (ICE) and the decisions of local prosecutors in cases involving immigrants.
How did the ordinance appear?
Pat Harris sponsor the city ordinance in 2004, when he was a member of the St. Paul City Council. He said they had heard of people who did not contact the police when they were victims of domestic violence and other crimes because they worry that this could lead to deportation.
“It was a very common reasonable question that people had to freely report crimes and our police department had to focus on crimes in our own community,” Harris said recently. “We didn’t think it was appropriate for the St. Paul Police to do the work of ICE agents.”
Harris said at that time that he had received numerous emails and calls from people who opposed the ordinance, including some who say it would turn St. Paul into a paradise for illegal immigration, although no one spoke against the measure on the measure of Hearing time at the Public Council.
He said back in 2004 that police department had already worked on a policy similar to that of the regulation and the new measure codifies this policy.
What does St. Paul’s Ordinance say?
Entitled “Power of Immigration Affairs Employees”, the Ordinance of St. Paul contains more than 2000 words. Here are some accents:
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“The city works in collaboration with (the US Department of Interior Security) … But the city does not manage its programs in order to implement federal immigration laws. Homeland security has the legal powers to impose immigration laws in the United States, in Minnesota and in the city.
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“The city’s policy is that all residents have the same right of defense and that all residents must have access to urban services to which they have the right, regardless of their immigration status under the federal law.”
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“Public safety officials cannot take any law enforcement for the sole purpose of finding the presence of persons without documents or to verify immigration status, including but not limited to, to question any person or persons regarding their immigration status. “
“If my neighbor is afraid to call 911, then my house is in danger,” Carter said. “… If we extinguish a fire either… fill a hole, or orem street, or collect garbage, the status of citizenship is not relevant to this service.”
Does the ordinance exclude ICE?
No, the ordinance says:
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“Nothing in this chapter prohibits public safety staff from supporting federal law enforcement officers in investigating criminal activity, including persons present in the United States, who may also violate federal civil immigration laws.”
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“Nothing in this chapter prohibits public safety staff from adequately identified suspects in crimes or to evaluate the risk of escaping suspects in crimes.”
“We have no power to prevent ICE from stepping into our city or preventing them from working, or preventing them from doing something,” Carter said.
When can an urban employee ask for immigration status?
The city’s ordinance says that they can “inquiries authorized by law or if necessary for the purposes of law enforcement.”
“All the rhetoric we hear about violent crimes … is just that,” Carter said. “This is rhetoric, because if someone who is a citizen commits a crime in our city, we do not dwell on anything to liability. This also does not change as a result of citizenship status. “
Separately, the city ordinance says that “city officials should require immigration information or ask for immigration status only when it is explicitly required by law or program guidelines as a condition for eligibility for the service sought. … The confidentiality of this information is maintained at the most complete authorized degree. “
The City Prosecutor’s Office can inform people of “possible immigration consequences of recognizing guilt” and ask about immigration status for the purposes of release on warranty or conditional release, the ordinance said.
Do Immigrant Communities know about St. Paul and Minneapolis regulations?
“I do not think this is commonly known in our communities,” said Wendy Zuniga, Copal Communication Director, who works with Latin American communities.
Copal was impressed when the Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara announced on January 16 that the department’s policy would not be involved in the implementation of the Federal Immigration Act, which has been acting for more than 20 years, has been updated.
“What our community really wants is the local authorities to talk about it and more visibility about the separation policy, because it will help people feel more secure, but only if they know,” Suniga said.
What are the local prisons policies about ICE?
The Ramsay District Prison in 2018 terminated the accommodation of people from the US immigration and customs services who were suspected of violating immigration rules. There are three district prisons in Minnesota that serve as places to hold ICE: in Sherbourne, Freeborn and Kandyochi counties.
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If one is arrested and sent to a local prison for a suspected violation of state law and ICE has a reasonable reason to believe that it is not in the US legal, they may issue detention to ask prison to hold the person after the local accusation is has been processed. The Sheriff’s office of Ramsay County, which changed its policy about a decade ago, requires a refereeing order or a person’s detention order.
In the same way, the District of Henepin is only accepted by the signed court orders to hold someone for ICE.
“There seems to be no need to change politics today,” said Ramsay Sheriff Bob Fletcher. “We will follow the law.”
Fletcher said they rarely receive Ice orders to detain a person in prison. To the best of his knowledge, people arrested and detained in prison in Ramsay County are often not immigrants without documents. “Most of our offenders have a long history with us in the past,” Fletcher said.
Will Liken Riley Act change the decisions of local prosecutors for accusations?
The Laken Riley Law will mean that federal officials will be obliged to detain any migrant arrested or accused of crimes such as theft by a store or attack on a police officer or crimes that hurt or kill someone. Some have expressed concern that the bill will deprive the rights of a proper process for migrants, including minors or recipients of the delayed actions for arrival in childhood.
The act will not change the rules for charging the prosecutor’s office of Ramsay, said spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein.
Since 2019, the service has a policy on the “side effects” of prosecution, which looks at the possibility of deportation for minor crimes. It does not apply to people accused of more serious crimes or people who are illegally in the country, Gerhardstein said. The policy regarding the consideration of the effects of deportation is for immigrants who are legal in the United States when accused of crime.
The District Prosecutor’s Office’s office states that if they consider that “justice requires a change of prosecution in order to achieve a neutral result in the immigration (prosecutors) can choose an alternative request similar to a crime level and the duration of the sentence, But of different nature. “
St. Paul Lindsay Olson City Prosecutor, whose office is pursuing crimes that are not at the level of crimes, said they have “alternatives before charging the traditional prosecution that we will continue to consider for all qualified cases.”
“Although the consequences of the accompanying immigration may be a matter of consideration in someone’s particular case, regarding how we determine or recommend order, this is not the only part of the information being considered,” she said in a statement S
Will St. Paul want to change his ordinance?
Mayor Carter said he thinks it is clear and does not offer changes at the moment.
But “It’s a quick anxious situation, so I wouldn’t rule out the opportunity to get to a place where we want to add something to the ordinance,” Carter said.
How about the US Department of Justice Memorandum, who tells federal prosecutors to investigate local officials who prevent the pressing of immigration laws?
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Minnesota Prosecutor General Keith Ellison on Thursday joined General Prosecutors from other states in a joint statement about the note.
“It has been proven – through a long -time precedent in the Supreme Court – that the US Constitution does not allow the federal government to command the United States to apply federal laws,” the statement said. “Although the federal government can use its own resources for federal immigration law enforcement, the court ruled … that the federal government cannot” inspire in its service-and without costs for itself-police officers of the 50 states. “
Carter said in a recent interview that “the separation of powers is a fundamental principle of the US government.”
“We have never been the country where the United States President would threaten to use the judicial system against people who disagree with them politically,” he said. “The consequences of this threat are absolutely terrifying.”