Immigration and how immigration laws are enforced in this country has defined much of the last decade of America’s political and cultural life. The latest chapter in it in the context of Washtenaw County came on January 21 when representatives from the pro-immigration group Movement for Immigrant Rights Action approached the podium in front of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to pass a resolution to prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement from utilizing Washtenaw County owned buildings in their activities.
“This isn’t about party politics. This is about community safety, trust, and the values we claim to stand for as a county,” said Katie Palmer, of Ypsilanti, one of the members of the public who spoke in favor of the resolution during the lengthy public comment section. “Our public spaces, libraries, courts, schools, health clinics, county buildings exist to serve everyone who lives here.
Voices against the resolution
The Republican Party of Washtenaw County denounced the move approved by Commissioners. Before the meeting, the Washtenaw County GOP called on “all Republicans, conservatives, and sane people” in an email they sent out the day before. They denounced Democrats and other progressive elements of American society for, in the words of their email “attack all forms of law enforcement, most especially those defending our borders and enforcing our immigration law.”
Most of the people who showed up at the meeting were against what ICE is doing. Ice-Free Zone signs routinely showed up behind the heads of people standing in front of the microphone to address the Commissioners. But there was some support for ICE. A few referred to undocumented people as “illegals.”
“I am a Hispanic American. My mother was here from Mexico and I feel especially proud that my mother came here legally. She learned English, got her citizenship, she was very proud, we were all very proud, and I believe all immigrants should do it, and place their hand over heart, and pledge their allegiance to the United States of America. To be here is a gift, unfortunately many of the immigrants who come here do so illegally and do not want to assimilate,” a woman identifying herself as Rose, who said she was from Ypsilanti and didn’t give a last name, told the commission over the phone. She then expressed beliefs that “a majority” of immigrants coming today “are here because prisons were emptied – rapists, murderers.”
Claiming that illegal immigrants are dangerous, or are part of criminal activity is a common talking point in alt-right circles and MAGA politics. The vast majority of both documented and undocumented immigrants are not criminals.
Rose went on: “ICE is there to remove these animals from our communities. Also, if you’re afraid of being harmed by ICE behave as a good, law abiding citizen. … There’s nothing to fear as long as you do what the police ask. Which is what Renee Good did.”
Commissioners speak up
The Jan. 21 meeting details and adgenda can be found at a2gov.legistar.com.
Wednesday’s moment was the spearhead of the Washtenaw County branch of MIRA (the Movement for Immigrant Rights Action). As we all know, immigration is a federal matter. Since federal law trumps state, county and local laws under the Constitution of the United States, the reality is that there is little that the county can do about Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Members of the Board joined members of the community in expressing frustration in not being able to do as much as they can, but all elected officials joined most of the people in favor of confronting ICE in any way that they could.
“We can’t let this happen folks. This is our fucking country, we have to stand for this country. We have to stand for something, for our neighbors, and that is what you are all doing today by showing up, but it is going to take so much more than showing up to a meeting, passing the resolution. We have to know our rights, our law enforcement officers should know what is and isn’t legal. When the federal government is instructing them … they have to know what they can and can’t do. We have to know when to stand to protect our residents,” Commissioner Yousef Rabhi (Democrat – District 8) told the assembled crowd of people before voting yes with everyone else. “I know that there’s been some attempts to make sure that this resolution stays within the legal bounds of what we are allowed to do, but I want to remind my colleagues, and members of the community, that what they are doing is illegal. They are violating the laws themselves, so to hold ourselves to the standards of laws and regulations—fuck that at a certain point. They’re violating the law, and we need to stand up and make a stand. We have to push the envelope folks! We have to be bold, we have to be brave, and we have to do what is right.”
RELATED: Vigil Held for Renee Good in Liberty Plaza on January 9
ICE was created in the aftermath of 9/11 in 2003. Rabhi, who is now a father, remembered being the son of an immigrant from Algeria and being frightened of ICE as a child.
The Trump Administration has doubled down repeatedly on taking a hard line approach to immigration enforcement. This has resulted in American citizens being openly racially profiled or accosted by ICE because of their accent or speaking Spanish, as well as American citizens being deported and with due process being routinely flouted. Due process is enshrined in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, reading: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
ICE has taken a massive hit in its popularity in the year since Donald Trump returned to office. Amid a big hiring push, they have focused mostly on Democratic Party led cities like Minnesota, resulting in an increasing number of confrontations with the public. Renee Nicole Good was shot dead on a Minneapolis street less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed in 2020; but her death is far from the only incident.
A CNN/SSRS poll found that 31% of Americans think that ICE’s behavior is making America more safe, 20 points lower than the 51% who say that they’re making America more unsafe. Meanwhile, Quinnipiac University found that 57% of Americans disapprove of ICE while 40% approve. Indeed, another CNN poll found that only 42% of Americans approve of the second Trump Administration’s handling of immigration; once one of Trump’s top issues and one of the reasons he was able to beat former Vice-President Kamala Harris in 2024.
“Referring to anybody as ‘illegals’ or ‘aliens’ or ‘animals’ is… I can’t tell you what to say in this room. But I sure wish you wouldn’t say it here. These are people. These are human beings, who have families, and children, and parents who love them the same way you were loved. Or maybe you weren’t, and maybe that’s why you talk that way,” Washtenaw County Commission Chair Katie Scott (Democrat – District 9) said. “Also, let me speak plainly as someone whose never had the luxury of silence. I am a member of the LGBTQ community. I’m an outspoken woman, and I am not someone who sits down when power tells me to be quiet, and I am certainly not going to do it now. What we are seeing here is fear deliberately deployed. It’s people taken without warning. It’s families torn apart. It’s communities taught that safety comes from invisibility. I know what that message sounds like and feels like, because people like me have heard it before… That’s not public safety. That is terror as governance and it’s not ok. I want to reject the idea too that this is federal, and not our concern. When people are afraid to call 911, when people are afraid of medical care, when people are afraid to send their kids to school – that harm is local. That’s not federal, that’s here, in our neighborhood; and pretending otherwise is a choice, and it is not a neutral one. This resolution does not obstruct the law, it draws a moral boundary. What we are being asked to do in this country is to normalize cruelty, and accept that disappearing people is just the cost of doing business. It’s to confuse authority with legitimacy, and I have spent my whole life refusing that logic, and will not start now. Silence is not neutrality, silence is consent, and I do not consent as a commissioner, as a member of this community, and as someone who understands what happens when governments decide that some people are expendable.”
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
