[B]URLINGTON — Mayor Miro Weinberger says he will ask the City Council to formally declare Burlington a so-called “sanctuary city” for immigrants in order to address residents’ concerns in the wake of the recent presidential election.
Weinberger made the announcement during an interview with Vermont Public Radio on Thursday. He said given President-elect Donald Trump’s intention to change federal immigration regulations, he wanted to reassure city residents that Burlington would not change its policies regarding an individual’s immigration status.
“I want to make it abundantly clear that our intention is to keep following the practices that we have as a city for many years. And those practices are that we do not ask about immigration status when we are going about the business of providing municipal services, when we are doing our police work,” Weinberger said.
Weinberger explained that the sanctuary designation means that municipal officials and police will not ask residents about immigration status. That’s current practice, and he said under a Trump administration, the city of Burlington would continue business as usual.
The mayor said that to do otherwise would undercut public safety. He doesn’t want immigrant residents to be afraid to call police or seek city services for fear of being reported to federal immigration officials.
Trump has said during his campaign that he would cut federal funding to sanctuary cities, but Weinberger did not appear concerned about that prospect. He told VPR that it’s difficult to project what the incoming federal administration will do.
“Our understanding under current federal law, the amount of federal dollars we’re talking about is modest,” Weinberger said.
Jay Diaz, a staff attorney with the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, welcomed Weinberger’s announcement, but said if the mayor and the city are serious about providing assurances to members of Burlington’s immigrant community, they should adopt, in its entirety, Vermont’s new fair and impartial policing policy.
