Akron City Council will not ask Gov. John Kasich to declare Ohio a sanctuary state.
The request made late last month by Councilwoman Tara Mosley-Samples was shot down this week as council split on an issue that has divided the nation.
The resolution, essentially a collective opinion of council and not a law, would have charted a roundabout path to shielding undocumented immigrants in Akron by urging Kasich to support and sign legislation encouraging Ohio cities to “act as sanctuary cities.”
Kasich has criticized President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, particularly the refugee and travel bans, as “ham-handed” and “sowing confusion.” But the governor agrees with his presidential campaign rival that the sanctuary city movement is “a bad, bad thing.”
Kasich’s opposition, in part, was cited by the majority of council members who rejected Mosley-Samples’ resolution as futile, especially with upcoming battles over state and federal funding.
In a more direct approach, elected leaders in Cincinnati, Dayton, Oberlin, Lorain, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle have embraced the ambiguous sanctuary city label. With some variation, their police officers do not question the legal status of those who are arrested or turn them over to federal deportation crews. This relaxed, local policing encourages the fearful to come forward when they witness crimes, an act undocumented and documented immigrants can use to gain citizenship.
“Sanctuary” is often a city, not a state, effort. California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado are sanctuary states, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative group that prefers less immigration and more border patrol. A bill introduced Monday would add Nevada to the list. There, police would not turn over people who are arrested to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a warrant.
In Akron, a suspect’s “country of origin” is not recorded until officials ask at the county jail. ICE is then notified.
Elected criminals
Under Trump and some of his supporters, city leaders who wittingly harbor undocumented immigrants would be treated like criminals.
Trump has promised to deny funding. Pennsylvania state lawmakers advanced a bill last month to do just that. In Ohio, Rep. Candice Keller, R-Middletown, promises to cut off funding through a bill that also would criminally charge mayors and councils of sanctuary cities.
Local leaders say they are thinking of their constituents.
“I live in a neighborhood that, often times, they feel that they don’t see the dollars flowing to their neighborhood in the first place,” Akron Councilwoman Margo Sommerville said. “I represent a neighborhood that highly depends on monies that help with housing and transportation and public safety … In my district, we have the worst infant mortality rates. We will need a whole lot of federal dollars just to begin to address that.”
The resolution by Mosley-Samples that would have urged Ohio to give cover to sanctuary cities means little if Trump can cut off federal funding to an entire state. Consequently, Sommerville joined Jeff Fusco, Mike Freeman, Bob Hoch, Donnie Kammer, Marilyn Keith, Bruce Kilby and Rich Swirsky in rejecting the state sanctuary city resolution Monday.
State Rep. Keller has yet to introduce her ban on sanctuary cities, as she promised to do last week. But if and when she does, Ohio House Democrats Stephanie Howse of Cleveland and Dan Ramos of Lorain said they would counter with a bill similar to what Mosley-Samples proposed. But they do not expect Ohio’s Republican governor or legislature to consider it.
United, still
Akron’s leaders were unified on immigration before Trump made it a campaign cornerstone.
In April 2015, council agreed to become a “welcoming city.” More than being openly friendly to immigrants, the move unlocked research grants that could multiply the economic benefits of foreign-born populations.
In January, council unanimously opposed Trump’s travel and refugee ban three days after the executive orders.
“Our welcoming policy has been working. It’s been working for about 150 years,” Mayor Dan Horrigan said, taking a historical tone when asked about sanctuary cities at his State of the City address Tuesday. Horrigan said accepting legal immigrants — refugees included — is not akin to giving sanctuary. He dispelled notions that refugees do not work, pay taxes or help the economy grow.
The mayor’s prepared speech included a front-page editorial printed in the Akron Beacon Journal on the day President Woodrow Wilson declared war with Germany. “All foreign-born residents will be protected in Akron so long as they go peaceably about their business,” then-Mayor William J. Laub wrote. “I urgently request that our people refrain from public discussion which might arouse personal feeling, and maintain a calm attitude toward everyone without regard to nationality.”
Pragmatists, concerned over the legal and fiscal ramification of advancing Akron’s sanctuary status, said the resolution confused terminology and devalued the efforts of those who came here legally.
“We are a nation of laws,” said Freeman, who at one point held up his city-issued iPad to show colleagues an image of 243 immigrants raising their right hands and being sworn in as U.S. citizens.
“I hope everyone would be reminded that we are talking about people who are here illegally,” Freeman said in his opposition to seeking sanctuary status. “Legal. Illegal.”
Emotional meeting
More than 50 residents showed up at Monday’s meeting to speak. Thirteen did.
All but about five of the visitors supported the measure. One by one, they made humanist appeals for council to pass the declaration.
Pro-immigration advocate and retired pastor John Beaty defined the vote as a “moral crisis” between what is conscionable and what is “safe and financially expedient.” Beaty’s wife finished his statement when his three minutes ran out.
A North High School teacher, whose school is the most diverse in Ohio, credited immigrants in North Hill with enriching the learning. A local man, the third generation in his family to own property in North Hill, said refugees reshaping local culture and reviving business “make great neighbors, great people.”
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .