[B]URLINGTON — Last week President Donald Trump issued an executive order to stop the flow of federal money to so-called sanctuary cities. The order is part of the president’s push to step up immigration enforcement.
Trump announced the withdrawal of federal funds just as Burlington officials are looking at ways not to help enforce federal immigration laws for the deportation of unauthorized immigrants, which municipalities aren’t required to assist with.
Burlington received $9.8 million in federal money for housing, transportation and policing in fiscal year 2015.
Running afoul of Trump’s executive order could put that funding in jeopardy.
The city attorney’s office is reviewing the assurance clauses in Burlington’s federal grants as well as relevant case law to better understand what money could be at risk.
The Supreme Court in Dole v. South Dakota, a 1987 case, ruled that when the federal government withholds money from states, it should be tied to the federal interest at hand. Burlington’s only federal grant related to immigration is a $40,000 Justice Assistance program grant.
“We want to protect all members of the community, and we’re going to do that while fully understanding the consequences and any risk we might be exposing ourselves to,” said City Council President Jane Knodell.
“I feel committed to maintaining the policies that we have in place, but we do need to fully understand the consequences and keep our eye wide open as we move through this,” Knodell added.
Mayor Miro Weinberger struck a similar tone. “It is no surprise that the new president is acting on his prior campaign promises. We will carefully examine the implications of this new executive order as we continue our review of our related city policies. We will continue to be guided by Burlington’s inclusive values and longstanding practices,” he said in a statement.
Many Burlington residents appear to support the sanctuary city policy. More than 200 people protested Trump’s immigration policy at Burlington City Hall Park on Sunday, according to the Burlington Free Press.
Proponents of sanctuary policies say residents who are in the country illegally are less likely to report crimes or engage with city services for fear of deportation.
“This is also about constitutional rights,” said Jay Diaz, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. “The new administration wants to bully cities into handing over information about undocumented immigrants.”
There is little clarity about what Trump’s order will mean in practice, and it’s widely expected that attempts to cut funding to sanctuary cities will be challenged in federal court. City Attorney Eileen Blackwood said there are a number of legal issues at play, and her office is working hard to understand them.
The relevant section of Trump’s order states that the federal government “shall ensure that jurisdictions that willfully refuse to comply with 8 U.S.C. 1373 (sanctuary jurisdictions) are not eligible to receive Federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the Attorney General or the Secretary” of homeland security.
The statute referenced, 8 U.S.C. 1373, says that state and local entities and officials “may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.”
It has long been Burlington’s policy for city employees not to ask about about the immigration status of residents seeking city services.
“The city’s general policy is we don’t ask people about their citizenship and immigration status so we don’t have anything to communicate back and forth (with the federal government). So it hasn’t really come up,” Blackwood said.
However, a recent state law requiring police agencies to adopt a fair and impartial policing policy has ignited a debate in Burlington about whether the policy can offer protection to unauthorized immigrants without violating 8 U.S.C 1373.
Advocacy groups pressed the city to adopt elements of the state policy. Under statute, officers aren’t required to gather or provide the federal government with information about immigration and citizenship status.
Diaz, of the Vermont ACLU, has worked with Burlington on the policy.
“We would never advocate for someone to violate the law, but we are a nation of immigrants, and we were founded with the principle that all people have inalienable rights and in this case adopting a policy that protects those rights are in our interest, the nation’s interest and the interest of public safety,” Diaz said.
Blackwood said some of the language in the state’s model policy was overly broad and could be interpreted as violating federal law. Diaz said the city and advocates have settled on a new draft that complies with federal law and protects residents who aren’t authorized to be in the country.
The Burlington City Council and Police Commission plan to gather more community input on the policy before it is adopted.
