Groups launch campaign to resist immigration crackdown

In July, immigration arrests were at an all-time high in Upstate New York. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported 569 arrests that month.

Gabriel Marcano says any cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities makes Monroe County less safe—not just for immigrants, but for everyone.

A coordinator at the Worker Justice Center, Marcano’s sentiment was the key theme of a gathering Tuesday outside Monroe County government offices in downtown Rochester. 

“There is no place for local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE and civil immigration enforcement,” he said. “When this kind of collusion happens, more victims are at risk.” 

Immigration advocates from several local organizations met there to announce the Protect Our Neighbors campaign, aimed at expanding protections for immigrants in the county, and organizing a united front to resist the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.

Organizers of the campaign called for an end to informal cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, county collaboration with immigration authorities not mandated by state and federal law, and the economic isolation of businesses profiting from contracts with ICE.

The latter would be achieved by divesting county funds from contractors or corporations that directly profit from ICE or other immigrant detention infrastructure and prohibiting organizations that receive county funds from entering into contracts with ICE, according to the campaign.

Alongside Marcano and the Worker Justice Center, representatives from the Rochester Rapid Response Network, Metro Justice, the Monroe County Federation of Social Workers, and the Rochester chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America were also there to announce the launch of the campaign and to help circulate a related petition.

Campaign organizers praised efforts by city, county, and state officials to push back against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, but say more needs to be done.

“We need reassurance that our neighbors are being protected. (Rochester) DSA applauds the leadership of the city of Rochester and New York State on this issue,” says Gregory Lebens-Higgins, Rochester DSA’s co-chair. “Monroe County needs to plug the gaps by barring all forms of communication and coordination, whether under 287(g) agreements or otherwise. The state policy does not bar much of the coordination we have witnessed.” 

In July, New York passed the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, barring local law enforcement from participating in Department of Homeland Security’s 287(g) program, through which local law enforcement are authorized to conduct immigration enforcement activities.

Last week, Mayor Malik Evans celebrated Rochester’s victory in a lawsuit brought against it by the Trump administration over its sanctuary policy. Monroe County does not have a sanctuary policy.

Advocates behind the Protect Our Neighbors campaign cited rising ICE activity, both regionally and nationally, as a key motivator. In August, immigration arrests reached 50,925 nationwide, up more than 700 from July.

ICE transports many of those arrested in the region to the DHS’ Buffalo Service Processing Center in Batavia. The facility, currently designed to hold 650 detainees but which held as many as 737 in April, is on track for a 100-bed hard-sided expansion project announced in July.

During this week’s event, organizers also took time to criticize the Monroe County Legislature’s acceptance of an Operation Stonegarden grant from DHS last month.

“The county Legislature let us down when they approved Stonegarden funding,” says Sam Arrin of RRRN, criticizing legislators who voted in favor of the funding. “Whether it was outright cheers from members of the Legislature aligned with the administration, or embarrassing excuses from Democrats who voted for it, the passage of this legislation that furthers cooperation with federal marauders was a grave misstep that broke the trust of our community.”

The Operation Stonegarden grant, which the county has been a recipient of for 16 years, is administered by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration under DHS to “support joint efforts to secure United States’ borders” with funding for additional personnel, travel and lodging, overtime pay, and general equipment used by law enforcement in Monroe County.

This year’s vote to renew the grant came under scrutiny amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, despite assurances in March from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office that grant funding will not be used in immigration enforcement operations.

The campaign received support from county Legislator Rachel Barnhart, a frequent critic of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown who led the charge against the Operation Stonegarden grant funding last month. On her way into the county building for Tuesday’s Legislature meeting, Barnhart was seen offering words of support to campaign organizers just before they announced their campaign.

“I support codifying policies that strictly limit sheriff’s office interactions with federal immigration agents. I look forward to working with the advocates on ultimately bringing legislation forward,” she said. 

Laying out the campaign’s goals, Luis Torres, president of Metro Justice, closed the campaign launch.

“We may not obstruct federal enforcement, but that doesn’t mean we cannot take every single opportunity to make it clear that their work of fear has no place here,” Torres said. “Our leaders … can make it clear that if you’re profiting from federal immigration enforcement, Monroe County doesn’t want your business. … That’s why we’re here today, engaging our leaders, engaging our community.”

David Wazana is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort. 

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