GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Two Grand Rapids organizations rallied at Calder Plaza Tuesday evening despite the cancellation of a city commission meeting, demanding the city adopt "sanctuary city" policies and condemning the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"The city of Grand Rapids is not doing nearly enough to protect our families," said a protester as he addressed the crowd.
Over 100 citizens gathered at the plaza, organized by Movimiento Cosecha Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Responds to ICE, expressing concerns about ICE's treatment of immigrants and urging city officials to offer more protection through sanctuary city policies.
"I'm talking about ICE, the immigration, the custom enforcement agency, and the way it has been treating humans, being like they're not human at all," said a teen activist.
In a city commission meeting on Jan. 28, Mayor David LaGrand addressed the concept of "sanctuary cities" following public comment.
"We have an obligation to speak out on this issue and to speak out on it in moral terms and to do everything in our power to respect honor and support the members of our community who have built their lives here but we also have to not give false hope and so... The danger of holding out some media term like "sanctuary cities" is that people may think that somehow that gives them protection they don't have."
At that same meeting, city manager Mark Washington also reiterated the Grand Rapids Police Department's policy regarding undocumented immigrants.
"Grand Rapids Police Department adopted a policy that ensures equal enforcement of the law regardless of citizenship and would not hold foreign nationals without a judicial warrant. More specifically, the policy was more prescriptive than saying that officers will not coerce or threaten with deportation or engage in verbal abuse of any person based on a person's actual or perceived immigration status or citizenship."
Activists from Movimiento Cosecha and Grand Rapids Responds plan to continue their advocacy at four upcoming meetings.
The first is at SECOM Resource Center in Grand Rapids at noon on Saturday, June 21.
The second will be at 6 p.m. at Grand Rapids organization LINC Up on Monday, July 7.
Activists will also attend the Kent County Commission meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, July 24, and the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 29.
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