Earning the applause of an overflowing city hall, Madison’s legislative body unanimously condemned President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting immigration in a proposal Tuesday.
The resolution, which also reaffirms the city’s stance on immigration enforcement, has been a controversial topic among Common Council members because of a clause declaring the City-County Building and Madison Public Libraries as “safe places” for immigrants to seek refuge and council.
The City-County Building and Madison’s public libraries will now have translation services and will be a place immigrants can turn to for help without fear of deportation.
More than twenty members spoke before the council voted, asking for empathy and emphasizing the need for a place for immigrants to turn to resolve the cultural, language and disorientation shocks that can be jarring to newcomers. Many were at risk of losing their visas and green cards.
Elizabeth A. Jacobs, a medical doctor, told a story of one of her patients who was undocumented and needed somewhere to go.
“There’s research that shows that if people are afraid of being turned in to immigration, that they don’t seek healthcare and they also don’t go to the police,” Jacobs said. “My patient is a woman who suffered from domestic violence and turned to the police. Under this administration, if she didn’t feel there was a safe place to go, she might have been dead.”
“The City of Madison opposes immigration-related laws, practices and policies by any jurisdiction that risk racial and ethnic profiling,” the resolution states. “Utilizing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws has been resisted by many police agencies because, instead of making communities safer, these efforts have had the effect of alienating the immigrant communities and reducing cooperation with the police, creating fear, discouraging the reporting of crime, and victimizing victims.”
Louis Montoto, a first generation Mexican immigrant, compared the resolution to rare moments in history that symbolize the need for progress and unity, such as opposition to the Japanese internment camps, the Underground Railroad and the Civil Rights Movement.
Several speakers were moved to tears as they recounted stories of racial profiling, discrimination and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals children living in fear of having their families torn apart.
Mayor Paul Soglin had previously claimed that he would veto the bill, citing the threat of the state government pulling city funding, as happened in Miami and several cities in Texas.
Soglin seemed to have a change of heart, however, after the phrase “safe spaces” was changed to “safe places.”
“The beauty of it is that we are the ones that are within the law,” Soglin said. “We are the ones that are protecting the Constitution. We are the ones that are protecting what is valuable within this nation.”
