As federal immigration agents engage in dragnet sweeps of cities throughout the country, Akron’s mayor and City Council are opposing four proposed state laws that would require agencies such as the Akron Police Department — and other entities like hospitals and schools — to cooperate with the enforcement of federal civil immigration laws.
On Monday night, Akron City Council unanimously passed a formal resolution objecting to those bills. The city’s elected officials highlighted various concerns, including:
- The Akron Police Department is already stretched thin.
- The federal agency the APD would be forced to work with is “lawless.”
- The bills stoke fear among Akron’s refugee and immigrant communities.
- The legislation infringes on the city’s “home rule” style of governance.
The city’s resolution opposing forced local obedience to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency will soon be sent to the leaders of the Ohio Senate, the House of Representatives and the governor, who can veto any legislation that passes in both chambers.
“We think each of these four bills is an overreach,” said Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, who introduced the resolution along with Ward 1 Council Member Fran Wilson. “So we want to send that message with one voice, from the administration and council to Columbus — both to the Statehouse, state Senate, and to Governor DeWine, and advocate for these not to become law.”
Four bills are ‘an invasion of our home rule,’ council member says
The four bills, backed by Statehouse Republicans, that Akron officials are fighting are:
- House Bill 26, which would require local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws alongside ICE. It also blocks any local ordinances prohibiting cooperation with immigration agents. The bill would require local police to “immediately report” people they arrest to the federal government if officers suspect they are in the country without proper paperwork, among other provisions.
- Senate Bill 172, which has similar provisions as HB 26.
- House Bill 42, which would require the recording and reporting of the citizenship status of every student in school, every person detained by police, every member of a household where someone receives food assistance and of people interacting with many other public agencies.
- House Bill 281, which would require that hospitals allow ICE agents to target individuals seeking medical care.
At-large Council Member Jeff Fusco railed against the bills on Monday night as an affront to Akron’s right to enact its own laws consistent with the state’s “home rule” constitutional amendment.
“This is yet again an invasion of our home rule,” Fusco said. “This is where the Statehouse is dictating what cities across Ohio — dictating to us — how we operate and utilize our resources. Our resources are stretched thin, we know that better than anyone and this is the last thing we need — in Akron, in Ohio, in the United States.”
Earlier in the day, Council Member Brad McKitrick also warned of diverting law enforcement personnel and resources to immigration enforcement.
“I think that this could just create a lot of problems within the city,” McKitrick said, “especially when you look at computer-aided dispatch and look at the call screen and see active calls, calls waiting. When we start putting this kind of demand on that system, it’s just going to domino from the chaos that’s going to ensue. It’s going to go right on down to delayed response time.”
The mayor said the city can’t prevent ICE action in the city and his administration won’t intervene — he just doesn’t want to help.
“We do not have to marshal our resources to basically assist them in carrying out their operations,” he said. “To the extent that we’ve seen these surges in places like Minneapolis and other places that, in a lot of ways, happened in a lawless way. We have no interest and no desire to take part in those. We’ve seen them stoke fear even here in Akron as we’ve talked to members of the immigrant and refugee community.”