Detroit residents urge council to ban ICE activity on city property and end police cooperation

Dozens of residents and community organizers urged the Detroit City Council on Jan. 9 to adopt sanctuary-city protections and sharply limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on city property, saying existing local practice has endangered families, students and community trust.

Speakers during a lengthy public-comment period repeatedly backed a memorandum introduced by Councilmember Gabriela Santiago Romero that asks the city to explore legal steps to keep ICE off city-owned sites and to prohibit Detroit Police Department cooperation with federal immigration enforcement unless required by law. “We need a sanctuary city and nothing less,” said Daniel Weber Alatorre, an emergency medical technician who said police should not be detaining neighbors for ICE.

Community groups — including the Detroit Community Action Committee, the Detroit Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and other organizers — urged the council to prohibit use of city funds, personnel or facilities to assist ICE operations and to bar sharing or collection of immigration-status information by city agencies except when legally required. “Declaring Detroit a sanctuary city would mean formally limiting our city's cooperation with federal immigration enforcement,” said Cassandra Rodriguez of the Detroit Community Action Committee.

Several speakers described recent, on‑the‑ground incidents they said involved ICE or ICE‑linked agents, including alleged abductions of students and the deaths of people while in ICE custody. Organizers and witnesses repeatedly called for buffer zones around schools, hospitals and houses of worship and for enforceable consequences for city employees who provide data or assistance to ICE when not required by statute.

Police‑oversight officials and council members responded with a mix of support and caution. District 7 Police Commissioner Victoria Camille told the council she supports legal steps to protect residents and encouraged council and community coordination, but she said council lawyers and the Board of Police Commissioners must identify lawful approaches. “We must find that legal path to get ICE out of Detroit and protect Detroiters,” she said.

Councilmember Santiago Romero thanked speakers and said the council must determine what is legally possible and what would risk penalties such as loss of state or federal funding. She said the city will pursue a two‑track approach: staff and legal review of the memos’ options, and community education and mutual‑aid preparedness. “If these laws are not in place, then what is that next step? I believe . . . it is mutual aid. It is organizing,” Santiago Romero said.

Action taken during the meeting included a motion, approved without objection, directing the Detroit Police Department to report to council staff on city contracts that may permit sharing or sale of resident data to third-party brokers — an inquiry council members said is connected to concerns about how local information could reach ICE. Councilmembers also asked staff to research city contracts that activists said may profit from war or support federal agencies, as part of broader demands for accountability.

The council took no final vote on a sanctuary ordinance at the Jan. 9 meeting; members said more legal analysis and intergovernmental coordination is needed. Officials said staff will provide memos and the council will determine next procedural steps, including possible drafting of a resolution or ordinance.