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Public speakers urge Metropolitan Council to ban ICE from council properties, expand protections for transit workers
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Summary
Four public commenters, including a Met Council employee and the ATU local president, told the Metropolitan Council on Jan. 28 that federal immigration enforcement is endangering staff and residents and asked the Council to ban ICE from council properties, create safety protocols and emergency support for detained employees.
Public commenters at the Metropolitan Council’s Jan. 28 meeting urged the regional body to take immediate institutional action to protect transit workers, residents and council employees from federal immigration enforcement activity.
Maddie Schwartz, a community development worker, told the Council that its statements condemning enforcement tactics are not enough and asked it to ban U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from Council-owned indoor spaces and to “formally support an eviction moratorium” to help residents who can no longer work. “A ban would be a stronger tool to allow staff and residents to have agency and additional protection, especially in indoor spaces,” Schwartz said.
Sam Limerick, a principal data scientist who said he works in community development research, called the Council’s posture “anticipatory obedience” and urged staff and elected leaders to use the powers the Council does hold — for example, by resourcing staff proposals, providing multilingual know-your-rights materials and delivering legal observer and de-escalation training for operators.
Sarah Rodman, a Metropolitan Council employee in the Community Development Division, described operational steps the Council has taken — locked front doors at Robert Street, expanded telework approvals and public announcements about enforcement — and said those measures are insufficient. “Lives are at stake,” Rodman said, and she asked the Council to “exhaust every avenue to use any and all power and influence we have to protect our employees and citizens of the region.”
David Stiggers, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, recounted an operator who was detained by ICE for more than a month and described multiple incidents that have left drivers fearful. Stiggers urged the Council to establish an emergency hardship program to provide immediate legal assistance, mental-health care and reintegration support for employees detained by ICE.
Council members listened without providing immediate policy responses, and the chair closed the sign-in public comment period after programmatic testimony and moved the agenda to scheduled reports.
What’s next: Speakers asked for concrete Council actions ranging from a formal ban on enforcement activity on Council properties to creation of a benefit and legal-support program for detained employees. The Council did not adopt any of those specific measures at the Jan. 28 meeting.
