Residents urge Grand Rapids City Commission to adopt sanctuary policies as ICE fears grow

Dozens of residents urged the Grand Rapids City Commission on March 25 to adopt sanctuary policies limiting local cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arguing such measures would protect immigrant neighbors and families.

Speakers at the meeting’s single public-comment period said they wanted the city to restrict information-sharing and deny voluntary cooperation that goes beyond federal requirements. “Please enact sanctuary policies that restrict the amount of information that the city and or the jails can in fact give to ICE,” said Sheldon, a Second Ward resident, who asked the commission to “only give the mandatory required information.”

The requests were raised repeatedly. Corbin, a resident who read the Fourteenth Amendment aloud during public comment, framed the issue as protecting due process. Jeff Smith, a Second Ward resident involved in local…