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The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island on Monday urged city and town councils to adopt an ordinance to protect immigrant communities from what they called “constitutionally dubious federal actions and pronouncements.”
In a letter to the state’s 39 municipalities, the organization emphasized that “local officials have no obligation under federal law to participate in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
ACLU of RI’s executive director Steven Brown said the recommendations are designed to push back against several of President Trump’s recent executive orders.
“People may not realize it at first hand, but municipalities can play a really important role either in helping immigration officials or deterring them from doing things that impact and tear apart the community,” Brown said. “That’s really what this draft ordinance is all about, asking municipalities to adopt it and provide some protections to immigrants in their community from this xenophobic effort by the Trump administration to go after just about every immigrant in the country.”
The model ordinance includes provisions that would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to have warrants before local police detain people at the agency’s request. It also calls for assisting crime victims who may be eligible for special immigration status, and rejecting attempts to deputize local police as immigration agents.
Brown said the ACLU of Rhode Island is prepared to take action to protect cities and towns that adopt new protections for immigrants. Brown said the organization will be unveiling an educational “know your rights” campaign in the coming weeks, including in-person events as well as materials in multiple languages, offering guidance to residents on what their rights are if they encounter immigration officials.
