A national debate over sanctuary policies and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown played out Tuesday across Rochester.
The flashpoint was a visit from President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan where he met with area law enforcement as dozens demonstrated in dueling rallies outside.
"Call me," Homan told those who gathered at the Locust Club police union hall, his remarks captured in a video later posted to Facebook. "I'll do anything I can to support you. That's more than the politicians in a sanctuary city are going to do for you, because you're putting politics over public safety."
His remarks drew applause. But his presence sparked additional protests across the city, from Interstate 490 overpasses to the downtown Public Safety Building and, later, outside City Hall. And later, pushback from city leaders as all nine City Council members signed onto a proclamation reaffirming the Rochester's status as a sanctuary city — and members then took turns reading it into the record to begin their monthly meeting.
"I believe I speak for all of us when I say we will never turn our backs on any of the folks who call Rochester home," City Council President Miguel Meléndez said.
Throughout the day, protestors raised signs demanding “Hands off Sanctuary Cities” and "Hands off our Democracy," or “de-I.C.E. RPD.” While, at the pro-police rally at the Locust Club, people hoisted Trump and black-and-white American flags with a blue stripe. One carried a sign that read, "Chief Smith is a coward."
"What we are seeing is distraction, division, distortion," Mayor Malik Evans said, speaking after Homan's visit but not having heard his comments. "And after the dust clears ... we got to stand and make sure that our community is still put together, and that we have unity in our community.”
Evans added: “We will push back against any of the federal nonsense that we get."
The impetus for Homan’s visit was an encounter back in March, when federal Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents stopped a van with three undocumented men inside — a father and his two adult sons. When the trio refused to get out of the vehicle, agents made an emergency call summoning multiple RPD officers to the scene on Whitney Street on the city’s west side. The responding RPD officers then threatened to break the van’s window if the men didn’t exit and handcuffed at least one of the men when they did.
RPD policy states that officers “may respond to assist CBP or ICE in situations involving an imminent threat to life or safety.” But it requires that officers “not engage in police activities solely for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws or policies.”
Police Chief David Smith took the involved officers off the street until they completed training on the RPD policy. And he directed similar training for the rest of the department.
"What happened in Rochester, HSI agents called for emergency assistance, officers of Rochester PD responded ... they responded, then they got disciplined," Homan said Monday, speaking from the podium in the White House briefing room. "Cops need to help cops, especially in an emergency situation, and they got disciplined."
Trump signed an executive order Monday that threatened to cut federal funding to localities that have refused to cooperate with the federal immigration crackdown. But a federal judge last week blocked a similar effort targeting an initial 16 jurisdictions including San Francisco, Seattle and Portland.
Rochester’s policies are prefaced with a directive that the city and its police officers would comply with all applicable federal and state laws. Nonetheless, Homan told Spectrum News that Rochester would be on the list.
Homan did not address the press during his visit, aside from a pre-arranged interview with Spectrum News. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request from WXXI News.
After the meeting with Homan, leadership of the Locust Club and other law enforcement from around the country held a news conference in the union hall.
“We're all coming together today with the same message: cops support cops, first, last and always,” said Locust Club President Geoff Wiater, adding that RPD will always back up federal law enforcement when requested.
That is enshrined in the department’s existing general orders and has not been in contention. Wiater said, however, that there is “probably a department policy issue that we’re going to have to address,” but he did not clarify what needed to be changed.
Union leaders stopped short of saying officers would ignore the sanctuary policy in the department’s general orders.
“They're not going to take part in immigration enforcement,” said Locust Club Vice President Paul Dondorfer, who also serves as a Monroe County legislator representing Penfield. “That's not our job. The federal agencies know that's not our job, and they won’t ask.”
Homan did not meet with Smith or RPD command staff, nor with Mayor Evans. Before visiting the Locust Club, however, he stopped in Greece and spoke with town Supervisor Bill Reilich and police there. Reilich credited Greece Police Chief Michael Wood for arranging the meeting and said town officials “appreciate” what Homan is doing, and that Homan “appreciates that we're not a sanctuary city.”
The Trump administration last week sued the city of Rochester, arguing its sanctuary policy is illegal and has the effect of restricting federal immigration action.
"They're picking on a medium sized city in upstate New York,” Evans said. “That's what bullies do. But I was raised in a family of six, and the way you deal with a bully is that you don't retreat. You make sure that you punch back — and we're going to punch back."
He said the city would do so through the courts, community action and the legislative process. Meléndez, who stood beside Evans on Tuesday, said the sanctuary proclamation later reaffirmed by City Council would be displayed in the Council office and hinted that the city "may change our tactics and strategies around this policy."
“The whole message here is that we as a community, not only are we resilient, we're resourceful, we're committed,” Meléndez said. “And we care about our people, and we're going to fight back and push on that.”
The divide, though, was evident as people lined either side of Lexington Avenue outside the Locust Club. Temporary barricades fenced the union hall property, while a helicopter and drones hovered overhead and two men in black shirts kept watch with a scope and binoculars on the building roof.
On the pro-Homan side of the protest, opinions largely revolved around fear of undocumented immigrants bringing crime and gangs and support of law enforcement.
“We support legal migrants, we support legal immigrants, we support legal refugees,” said Candy Giles. “What we’re looking at is illegal lawbreakers leaving our country.”
Across the street, protester Felisha Buchinger remarked on the apparent role reversal in the debate over states' rights and local authority versus the federal authority.
“And funny enough, a lot of the people on that side usually are on the side of small federal government and allow us more power to the localities,” said Buchinger, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. “So, the fact that they are arguing this side is very opportunistic, to say the least.”
Congressman Joe Morelle, D-Irondequoit, in a statement Monday, argued that Homan was using Rochester as “as a prop” to promote what the congressman described as the Trump administration's “inhumane, illegal and antithetical” immigration policies — specifically calling out the recent deportations of U.S.-born children.
Separately, Monroe County Republican chairman Pat Reilly in a statement Tuesday said that the Republican Party welcomed Homan and the federal lawsuit, continuing: “The people of Monroe County deserve leaders who stand up for our safety and for supporting our law enforcement officers in their time of need, not ones who are obsessed with policies designed to shelter and protect criminals.”
Includes reporting by Jake Streamer.
