The United States Conference of Mayors‘s annual summit this week launched with a focus on bipartisan frustration about Immigration and Customs Enforcement‘s tactics.
Over 250 mayors gathered in Washington, D.C., after a nationwide debate was sparked earlier this month following the deaths of two U.S. citizens during ICE-related operations in Minnesota.
On Wednesday, mayors across the political spectrum said they were troubled about the tactics ICE has used during its missions. Several have aired concerns that ICE has failed to use de-escalation tactics, saying it appears officers have not received proper training on how to manage situations that could swiftly spiral into lethal encounters. Others said they are worried that growing backlash against federal law enforcement could undermine a nationwide decline in crime, arguing that fading public confidence in ICE filters down to lower trust in local police, making it harder for them to access and protect communities.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, a Republican in California’s fifth-largest city, warned that ICE has been rejected by communities because it is using tactics that were “abandoned by local law enforcement 30 years ago.” Those tactics have led ICE to be perceived as an “occupying force,” Dyer said, resulting in a loss of trust between community members and authorities.
“There is a lack of training, obviously, when you look at how operations are being carried out, a lack of training in the area of de-escalation,” he said during a press conference. “After spending 40 years in the Fresno Police Department, the last 18 as a police chief, there’s one thing I learned that is fundamental to policing, and that is you have to earn the trust of the people in which you serve.”
“That trust is very delicate, and it’s hard to gain and easy to lose. And in order for us to gain that, that trust, we have to police neighborhoods with their permission; we cannot be seen as an occupying force when we go into those neighborhoods. And so the tactics that are utilized, the manner in which arrests are being made, all of those are what allow you to either be well received and welcomed or rejected,” he added. “We support legitimate enforcement efforts by ICE to remove serious criminals, but we want them to be held to the same standard that we hold our local police departments to in terms of being Professional, well-trained, and de-escalating situations whenever possible.”
Democratic Lincoln, Nebraska, Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird echoed Dyer’s concerns, suggesting that the decline of confidence in ICE threatens to undermine gains made through traditional federal-local partnerships to target crime.
“Cities also work closely with federal agencies to keep the peace and to keep people safe, to remove violent offenders from our streets,” she said. “That coordination has contributed to measurable reductions in homicide and violent crime in cities of all sizes, all across this country.”
“As mayors, we recognize and celebrate and share in that progress,” she added. “As mayors, we also share in the collective risk of escalating tensions and civil unrest that results from a lack of coordination between federal government and state and local government officials. When trust is lost in how laws are being enforced in one city, we feel the risks to our police officers and to our residents in all cities, which is why I echo the calls from my fellow mayors as well as members of the Nebraska congressional delegation in urging de-escalation. Our conference welcomes strong intergovernmental coordination to keep the public and our law enforcement professionals safe. The nation’s mayors will continue our work to ensure public safety in our cities and restore the public trust necessary for the enduring success of this great 250-year American experiment.”
DHS MORE THAN DOUBLES CASH INCENTIVE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO LEAVE US
The Trump administration initially took a hard tack against those critical of ICE after Renee Good was shot and killed during a federal immigration operation on Jan. 7. However, since Alex Pretti died during another ICE-related Minnesota mission on Jan. 24, the White House has sought to de-escalate tensions amid protests and riotous acts against ICE, and polling indicating public confidence in the agency has reached record lows.
President Donald Trump dispatched border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota this week to meet with local and state officials and directly manage ICE. Homan said Thursday that he is preparing to “draw down” ICE’s presence in the state. The Trump administration also withdrew a similar ICE surge in Maine on Thursday, according to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).
