Greensboro Leaders, Advocates Speak Against Trump's Immigration Policies

A coalition of faith groups, refugee resettlement agencies, and city leaders decried Friday executive actions taken by the Trump Administration. Among them was an order to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities. It's a move the administration says will bolster immigration enforcement, but community members say it's unfairly targeting immigrants.

The term sanctuary city is a broad one and hard to define—Greensboro itself is not officially designated “sanctuary city”—but it's generally reserved for cities that opt-out of federal immigration laws or requirements. President Donald Trump has long claimed that Americans are losing their lives to immigrant criminals as a result of sanctuary cities, and says his executive order will make cities safer.

Not so, according to Guilford County Latino Community Coalition's Addy Jeffrey. “It actually does quite the opposite,” she says. “People who would typically not be fearful of the police suddenly will not report crimes, [and] will be afraid to share any information of a neighbor that has been the victim of a crime.”

Jeffrey adds that she wants to see local and federal agencies working together to find solutions, but she believes casting a wider net of incarceration is not the way to go about it. “It's very unfortunate because we have really hardworking, good people, and in many cases, very highly educated people that are here and want a better life for their families,” she says. “And this has created a level of uncertainty and fear for so many—including people that are allies and family members of the people that are directly affected by this.”

American Immigration Lawyers Association Director Jeremey McKinney also questions the legality of the new requirement. He says currently, when federal agents suspect someone is here illegally, they may request local agencies to keep that person in jail beyond the time they would normally hold him or her. But he says that the added jail time costs are paid not by the federal government, but by local jurisdictions. “And whether the locality wants to follow that request [known as a detainer] is voluntary. One-hundred percent voluntary, and it always has been voluntary.” 

“It's pretty standard constitutional law that the federal government cannot force a state or local government to comply with a federal law or requirement which is voluntary,” McKinney adds. “So there's a real question as to whether that executive order is even enforceable and certainly there's a question as to whether it's constitutional.”

Thursday night, hundreds of demonstrators gathered for an "emergency march" through downtown Greensboro, advocating against the president's immigration policies, and promising more rallies in the future. 

Leaders in cities across the country that are considered sanctuaries, like New York or Chicago, say they will hold to their current policies. But there are others, like Miami Dade County in Florida, that are falling in line with President Trump's order. With cities split on whether or not to comply, the fate of Trump's order may be decided in court.