Peekskill revises immigration-enforcement policy; public hearing set for Feb. 23

Eric summarized changes to the proposed immigration-enforcement policy and said the administration added new sections (12—6) and strengthened section 17 to require notice and a hearing "in the same manner as a local law." He said the Westchester County Police Act required the city to provide certain written information to detained individuals and that the police chief had reviewed and consented to the proposed approach.

"We have included, in section new section 12 or section 12 and new section 13 and 14," Eric said, describing the additions and the effort to incorporate county-level language where appropriate. He also reported he did not find a private right of action under the Westchester County Police Act and said the proposed New York for All statute (under consideration at the state level) likewise does not appear to create a private right of action that would allow private enforcement.

A council member raised concerns about possible conflicts with federal law and suggested specific rewrites: avoid phrasing that would "prohibit the sending to or receiving from federal authorities of information regarding citizenship or immigration status as permitted or required by 8 USC section 1373," replace broad bans on "communication" with narrower language about city resources, add "based solely upon" where appropriate to reflect Fourth Amendment standards, clarify civil versus criminal cooperation and narrow the undefined term "exigent circumstances." Eric agreed to take the suggested edits and return a revised draft.

Staff proposed a resolution to set a public hearing on the revised policy for Feb. 23; administration notes said changes made after the Thursday prior to the hearing could delay the public hearing date. The council did not finalize policy adoption at the work session; it set the process to bring a revised draft and a hearing notice to the next meeting.