SARANAC LAKE — A village trustee is reintroducing a resolution which aims to keep local police from being used to enforce federal immigration law or to question or arrest someone based solely on their immigration status.

Trustee Aurora White proposed the initial resolution, which was voted down 3-2 in February amid concerns that it could risk federal funding or dictate which laws the police enforce. She has reintroduced an updated version of the resolution now because she and others are still concerned that local police will be asked to carry out federal immigration enforcement duties as mass deportation efforts ramp up under President Donald Trump’s administration. There’s no such directive yet, but she sees it looming. And she equates such an order to an unfunded mandate.

The board will discuss and vote on this resolution at its meeting at 5 p.m. Monday in the village board room in the second floor of the Harrietstown Town Hall.

White drafted this updated resolution with help from Saranac Lake Police Chief Darin Perrotte to make it consistent with police policy.

The resolution would prohibit village police from stopping, questioning, investigating or arresting someone based solely on their actual or suspected immigration or citizen status, or for an actual or suspected violation of federal immigration law. This would also apply to assisting in the investigation or enforcement of any federal program based solely on actual or perceived immigration status.

It also says the police shall not ask the immigration status of people — particularly for crime victims, witnesses or people who call the police seeking assistance — unless necessary to investigate criminal activity by that individual.

White wants to keep local funds for local purposes only.

“The resources of the village of Saranac Lake are finite, and the funding of village services through local property taxes is an issue of extraordinary concern,” the resolution states.

She also wants people to feel safe approaching police for help or going about their day-to-day business without being questioned about their immigration status. She said legal and undocumented immigrants are anxious now, as there are increasing stories of people being detained by masked immigration agents who do not identify themselves or show badges.

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Previous concerns

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In February, White and Trustee Kelly Brunette voted for the resolution. Mayor Jimmy Williams, Deputy Mayor Matt Scollin and Trustee Sean Ryan voted against it.

White said in the months following that, she’s heard from many villagers who shared her concerns and want some form of this resolution adopted. This new resolution addresses some of the issues trustees had with the last one, she said.

To read more about the initial amendment, go to tinyurl.com/2sphzusu.

There were concerns that the resolution was creating a “slippery slope,” telling the police how to do their job and dictating which laws they enforce. White said this was not her intention and she worked with Perrotte on making sure this resolution was something they both supported.

She said they both want everyone to feel comfortable asking the police for help.

White said the police department has done a good job of building better relations with the community. She wants people to maintain their trust in them.

The new resolution adds a paragraph stating that “the Village of Saranac Lake and the Saranac Lake Police Department is committed to providing the same opportunities, resources and treatment to everyone, regardless of their background, characteristics or beliefs, ensuring that everyone is treated in a just and unbiased manner, free from prejudice.” She said this language was taken from the police department’s policy manual.

Williams, Scollin and Ryan worried the resolution would risk finances if someone in the federal government sees it and cuts funding to the village.

Trump and his border czar Tom Homan have threatened to cut federal funding to any local government which has a local law or resolution declining to enforce federal immigration law. Some trustees felt this could jeopardize $30 million in federal grants the village has coming in.

White said she doesn’t share that concern. She feels the federal government is trying to penalize cities which they say are “obstructing” immigration officers. This resolution wouldn’t do that, she said. The police would still cooperate with border patrol on criminal matters and pursue people who have committed a crime, regardless of immigration status. They would not carry out the work of federal immigration agents, though.

“We’re not saying our police officers are going to obstruct federal investigations on immigration,” White said. “We’re saying that we’re going to use our resources for local issues.”

The word “solely” was important to her resolution, she said. The resolution wouldn’t keep the police from going after anybody who has committed a crime.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the 10th Amendment and the Supreme Court are clear that the federal government cannot force states or cities to carry out federal immigration enforcement actions.

The 10th Amendment reserves rights not expressly delegated or prohibited to the federal government by the Constitution to the states and to the people. Courts previously ruled that localities have the right not to participate in federal immigration enforcement.

White removed a couple of paragraphs of “legalese” because some trustees said it made things a bit confusing by being too specific. White said these lines weren’t necessary.

The new resolution eliminates a line that would have prohibited the same actions based on civil immigration warrants, administrative warrants or immigration detainers.

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Enforcement in the region

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The Trump administration is working on deputizing local law enforcement around the country to recruit more numbers for its deportation plan. Right now, these are efforts proposed through an expansion of mutual agreements between departments and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through an existing program.

This region relies on foreign students who come here on J-1 work visas, White said. But she’s heard from hospitality workers who say there are fewer students applying for these visas because they’re afraid of something going wrong or being harassed about their immigration status.

This is impacting the students and the local economy, she said.

In February, nine employees at the Tupper Lake Pine Mill were detained in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid.

ICE said it determined that all of the detainees were not authorized to work in the U.S. and are to be sent back to their countries of origin. The mill owners say the company stands by its employment eligibility verification processes through the I-9 form.

In March, three Sackets Harbor children — a third grader, a 10th grader and an 11th grader — were handcuffed and detained along with their mother in an ICE raid of a dairy farm. Three other people were detained in this raid, including a white South African man who is now facing child pornography charges.

The children’s mother was working to get legal citizenship.

The family spent more than a week at a detention camp in Texas and were in “removal proceedings,” but then were released without explanation for their detainment, after massive protests from the community. ICE referred to their detainment as “collateral arrests.”

Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” who has a vacation home in the town, said in an interview that the children were being detained as potential witnesses to a crime. But attorneys questioned why they were handcuffed and shipped to Texas, saying the arrests appear unlawful.

In other areas of the country, student activists like Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk have been taken off the streets or from their apartments by masked agents, ICE agents who do not identify themselves or show badges after their student visas were revoked without their knowledge. Neither of them has been charged with a crime and while Ozturk has been released, Khalil has not.