Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Sanctuary Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rochester City Council reaffirms sanctuary status after federal lawsuit naming mayor and council
Summary
Council president read a proclamation reaffirming Rochester’s sanctuary-city policy after he and Mayor Evans were named in a federal lawsuit; council said it will keep the proclamation on display and continue discussions on tactics and strategy.
Rochester City Council on the evening it met in April reaffirmed the city’s long-standing sanctuary-city stance after Council President Miguel A. Melendez Jr. said he and Mayor Evans were named in a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration challenging Rochester’s status.
In a proclamation read to the chamber, Council President Miguel A. Melendez Jr. said the council “unequivocally upheld” the principle that enforcement of federal immigration policy is the responsibility of the federal government, citing the city’s 1986 and 2017 sanctuary-city resolutions and the city’s sanctuary policy. Council member Mitch Gruber read the text of the proclamation to those assembled.
The proclamation recounts Rochester’s history as “a city built by immigrants” and states the council’s commitment to equal treatment regardless of immigration status. Melendez said the proclamation will be “proudly on display inside the council office” and that council members have signed it. He said the council will continue conversations about tactics and strategies for carrying out the policy.
The council did not take any formal legislative votes tied to the proclamation at the meeting. Melendez told the chamber the administration and council must remain “steadfast” in protecting due process and the rights of all residents in the face of federal enforcement actions. The proclamation’s text, read aloud by Gruber, references the Tenth Amendment and the city’s sanctuary-city policy adopted in earlier resolutions.
The announcement came amid earlier remarks that the mayor and council had not yet been served with the lawsuit. The council’s reaffirmation was largely ceremonial: members stood and signed the proclamation, and Melendez said it will remain on display for visitors to the council office. Council members said they expect to continue public conversations about how to implement and defend the policy going forward.
City staff and council did not at the meeting provide new, binding changes to city code or new enforcement directives; rather, the action taken was the public reaffirmation of existing policy and the pledge to continue discussions about next steps.
