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The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the city of Rochester, alleging that the city’s sanctuary city policies unlawfully hinder federal immigration enforcement efforts.
The complaint seeks to invalidate Rochester’s sanctuary policies and require the city to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
The department contends that the sanctuary city policies violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution; intentionally obstruct communication between state, federal and local law enforcement agencies; and undermine national efforts to address illegal immigration.
Rochester reaffirmed its sanctuary status in 2017—meaning that the Rochester Police Department is legally prohibited from investigating an individual’s immigration status to enforce federal immigration laws. RPD officers can investigate immigration status if there is criminal activity involved.
Last month, Rochester police responded to a request for assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The DOJ lawsuit notes that Rochester Mayor Malik Evans and Miguel Melendez, president of City Council, criticized the officers for violating the city’s sanctuary policies.
The city has not been served yet, officials said, but it obtained a copy of the complaint from the federal filing system.
In a joint statement, Evans and Melendez said: “On its face, the complaint is an exercise in political theater, not legal practice. The city’s Sanctuary City policy is legally sound and always has been—including during the entirety of the Trump administration’s first term. The city fully intends to defend the legality of its policies, and to use this opportunity to hold the federal government to task and ensure that it does not commandeer local resources in violation of the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment. The city of Rochester is committed to investing its resources on public safety for all, not doing the federal government’s work of immigration enforcement.”
ICE officers have been seen in the community since January, following a national directive by President Donald Trump calling for sweeping changes to the country’s immigration enforcement and asylum and refugee intake processes. The actions are intended to limit immigration and increase deportations.
Even before the executive orders, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello, along with 248 other elected officials across the nation, received a letter from America First Legal, a nonprofit founded by Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy. The letter, which alleges that sanctuary jurisdictions violate federal law, aimed to “put elected officials in sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States on notice.”
Read the Beacon’s story on the immigration crackdown here.
Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor.
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