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Community speakers urge Cincinnati City Council to strengthen protections against ICE and surveillance
Summary
Residents and local advocates told Cincinnati City Council at its Feb. 22 meeting to adopt stronger protections against immigration enforcement in homes, schools and places of worship and to limit city contracts with firms that share data with federal agencies.
Speakers at Cincinnati’s Citizens Forum urged City Council on Feb. 22 to adopt stronger protections for immigrants and to bar municipal contracts that could enable Department of Homeland Security (DHS) surveillance.
Nancy Sullivan, director of Transformation CDC, said she would provide model language used by other cities and told council that "Homeland Security has allocated over a $100,000,000 to pay bounty hunters to go after immigrants," adding that private investigators are visiting homes to "verify the home addresses of our neighbors." She argued the council should use its resolution language to prevent local cooperation that enables those actions.
Reverend Dr. Lucinda Pereira Isaacs, pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, asked council to explicitly protect houses of worship from enforcement actions. "Permitting ICE enforcement actions in places of worship substantially burdens the free exercise of religion," she said, and urged council to "protect houses of worship as spaces where human dignity is upheld."
James Blanchard, a Price Hill resident, urged the council to include limits on facial recognition and other AI surveillance in any resolution. "A strong resolution must include that all branches of Cincinnati city departments, including CPD, the health department, and Cincinnati Public Schools, cancel and do not enter into any contracts with these media conglomerates...and their supply chains which share information with DHS," he said.
Several other speakers echoed those calls, urging training for workplaces and businesses on Fourth Amendment rights, asking the city to consider a mutual‑aid fund for families affected by detentions, and pressing council to adopt concrete, enforceable measures rather than symbolic statements. Greg Fritz, a community activist, said the resolution passed unanimously last week was "a good first step, but it lacks much of the concrete actions other cities are implementing."
Council members did not debate new substantive limits during the Feb. 22 business session; the public comments formed part of the record for future ordinance and resolution drafting. Council members and staff acknowledged receipt of the testimony and several councilmembers invited speakers to share materials and follow up with staff for next steps.
The Citizens Forum portion closed without a vote on specific anti‑ICE language; multiple commenters said they planned to provide model resolutions or examples from other cities for council consideration.
