Akron City Council is tip-toeing into America’s heated debate over immigration.
President Donald Trump’s temporary refugee and travel ban (the latter on Muslim-majority countries) has been sacked, for now, by federal courts. His Justice Department has informed the 9th District Court of Appeals that it will not fight the “very bad decision.” Instead, Trump has promised another executive order next week, one the courts can’t strike down.
Meanwhile, a first-term member of the Ohio House has promised to ban Ohio cities from giving sanctuary to undocumented immigrants. Rep. Candice Keller’s bill, also expected next week, would charge elected leaders of “sanctuary cities” with fourth-degree felonies for the crimes committed there by undocumented immigrants. Council members and mayors could face 18 months in jail. Cities could be sued for $1 million or more by victims.
The Butler County Republican told the Beacon Journal Friday that she’s added a provision that would strip state funding, too.
Her bill is as motivated by terrorism and crime as what she has called “sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases, child marriage, child rape and prostitution … sanctioned” by refugee cultures.
She said she Googles most of her “overwhelming statistics” about dangerous “illegals.” She keeps a “big file” with emails from sources she can’t confirm but brings up in an interview anyway.
“I get this information and we’re living in a world of ‘fake news, fake news,’ as our president has pointed out. So I can’t confirm that this is true,” said the pregnancy center director, who talks tough on welfare and requests photo ID before passing out diapers and baby formula to clients.
She cited foreign-born rapists and drunken drivers in Kansas and California, and disease-carrying “illegals” across America. She suspects the adults commit crimes but isn’t sure how often. She hasn’t asked local or state law enforcement to provide figures.
She read that 11 cases of tuberculosis have been linked to “illegals.” Asked how many cases of TB there are annually in America, she said, “I don’t know how many total. I’m just saying there are 11 cases brought here by illegals.”
There were 9,557 in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also reports fatal car crashes.
“I don’t know how many die altogether” in car crashes either, she said, recalling specifically how many die daily at the hands of undocumented immigrants.
Local elected officials, including Emilia Sykes (D-Akron), dismissed Kellar’s bill as misguided and ill-informed. Sykes invited Kellar to meet refugees who have made Akron a sanctuary from war, genocide and persecution in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Amid this polarizing debate, Councilwoman Tara Mosley-Samples, an outspoken community advocate whose city ward includes a chunk of the ethnically diverse North Hill, has asked her colleagues to support a resolution urging Gov. John Kasich to declare Ohio a sanctuary state.
“I’m not going to get all of council’s support on it. And that’s OK. But we have to say that we are a welcoming community,” said Mosley-Samples, echoing a sentiment of many on council and almost all who attended a recent public meeting to support the move.
“We can’t sit silently on this,” she said. “The governor has been very vocal on saying this [temporary refugee and travel ban] was not done the best way. Now we’re going to give him a chance to show the president how to lead.”
Kasich took to Twitter in late January to challenge Trump, who beat the governor in every state but Ohio during the presidential primary. “This order should be replaced with a more thoughtful approach consistent with our values,” Kasich said.
Unlike Columbus and Cincinnati, which have taken recent action to protect undocumented immigrants within their cities, Akron’s proposal is a resolution urging Kasich “to declare Ohio to be a sanctuary state and to call for and sign legislation encouraging localities to act as sanctuary cities.”
“Passage of this resolution would have no legal effect whatsoever on any policy or procedure of the city or the Akron Police Department,” said Ellen Lander Nischt, a city spokesperson and assistant in the law director’s office.
The mayor has expressed that city police are “not a deportation force.” They arrest criminals and turn them over to the Summit County Sheriff’s department, which asks their country of origin before jailing them.
Bill Holland with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said 446 of the 12,603 inmates in 2016 said they were not Americans. That’s 3.5 percent of all jailed. Noncitizens account for 2.2 percent of Summit County’s population.
At the request of the Beacon Journal, Holland said he would pull together figures on how many of the 446 were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he said is notified of all undocumented prisoners.
“And with respect to the current practices and procedures of the city, as is often the case, reality is found between the extremes of public concern,” Lander Nischt said. “I think there are a lot of misconceptions on this issue — based in part of the fact that it’s legally very complex and also that it is an emotional issue for many people.”
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has directed staff to review police policy as federal and state officials have raised the possibility of withholding funds from local governments that are deemed sanctuary cities.
Akron council will debate or vote on the sanctuary state resolution on Feb. 27, the next scheduled public meeting. Cleveland council passed a similar piece of legislation 30 years ago, but then Mayor George Voinovich, who later became governor, vetoed it.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .