A wall is easy to understand: a structure at the border that prevents people and vehicles from entering. Just because it is a simple concept, however, doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of debate over it — indeed, the government is shut down over just that controversy.
For more complex immigration policies, there’s even less consensus on what the policy is, let alone if it’s a good idea.
Take, for example, President Trump’s criticism of sanctuary cities. His administration has tried to block jurisdictions labeled as such from receiving federal funding and he has repeatedly attacked them as a problem.
At first glance, some of the criticism seems understandable. The name “sanctuary city” seems to imply that these are cities that provide a safe haven for illegal immigrants. But that’s not at all that sanctuary cities do. Really, they are about upholding fundamental American values, claimed by both political parties and enshrined in the Constitution, such as rule of law, due process, and basic freedoms.
A good illustration of this is the case of Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a U.S. citizen and veteran held for three days after a judge ordered his release.
Ramos-Gomez, a Michigan resident suffering from PTSD after serving overseas, was arrested on trespassing charges. He got his day in court and a judge ordered his release pending sentencing.
But Ramos-Gomez stayed incarcerated. Why? Because Immigration and Customs Enforcement had requested that Kent County hand him over to agents without due process, a new decision from the judge or even any evidence of illegal status.
Since Kent County, where Ramos-Gomez was arrested, collaborated with ICE, the jail simply handed him over to the agency after ICE issued a hold, or detainer, asking the police to keep him in custody until they could come to the jail and pick him up. Thus, he was transferred to an ICE detention center, even though he had already been ordered released by a judge.
Ramos-Gomez did eventually regain his freedom, but only after his lawyer called ICE and advocated on his behalf, proving that he was, in fact, a U.S. citizen — something that ICE seems never to have verified.
But the damage was already done: A citizen ordered released by the court had been deprived of his freedom and held without cause for three additional days.
For the county that had failed to release him as ordered by the court, the criticism of the now-nationally known story was relentless. Passing off citizens to be held without charges, evidence, or a court order does not sit so well with Americans.
Kent County has since changed its policies and will no longer be holding people at ICE’s request.
As Kent Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young explained, she “notified ICE officials earlier today that the Kent County Sheriff will hold detainees for ICE only after ICE presents to our office an arrest warrant issued by a federal judge or magistrate — otherwise known as a judicial arrest warrant. This change is effective immediately.”
That’s undoubtedly the right call. Keeping people in prison arbitrarily is contrary to the rights laid out in the Constitution and subsequently upheld in court. Even illegal immigrants are entitled to due process under law.
Although Ramos-Gomez was transferred to ICE custody before his release date, other jurisdictions that collaborate with ICE will hold people in the local jail until ICE shows up — keeping them in local jails for days or longer.
But that decision not to collaborate with ICE and hold whomever the agency requests without reason and in violation of the most basic ideas of justice and rule of law makes Kent County a “sanctuary city,” or rather, a sanctuary county.
America has real issues with immigration, but they will not be solved by sacrificing freedom and liberty. Cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE by not holding or handing over individuals without reason are making sure that rights are respected.
We shouldn’t wait for another case like Ramos-Gomez’s to understand that sanctuary cities aren’t about being soft on immigration, but standing up for freedom and due process — sometimes of actual U.S. citizens.
