In the past two years, we have seen that policies and practices can be changed even without Congressional action or actual changes in the laws. We will continue to support immigrants and refugees, and to fight back against anti-immigrant policies.  In Minnesota, drivers licenses and municipal ID will be on state and local agendas, along with privacy issues arising from both. At the federal level, protection of immigrants comes before both Congress and the courts: DACA, TPS, asylum, the border, and more.

Driver’s licenses

Currently, Minnesota blocks residents who are undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses. And yet, it is nearly impossible to live in Minnesota without driving. Without a driver’s license,  seemingly everyday tasks like picking up children from after-school activities or driving to the doctor’s office can result in potentially life-altering consequences. For undocumented residents, something as minor as being pulled over for a burned-out headlight can trigger a series of events that results in separation from their families and the loss of their homes and livelihoods. That uncertainty traumatizes children and takes a deep toll on families and communities. As part of a broad-based coalition, ILCM is advocating for driver’s licenses for all legislation in this year’s Minnesota legislative session.

Municipal ID

Northfield began issuing municipal IDs last June, joining more than 20 U.S. cities or counties, including Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Detroit. Minneapolis voted last year to begin issuing municipal IDs, but is still in the planning stages.

Many undocumented residents face barriers to obtaining critical services as a result of not having a government-issued form of identification. Those services include opening a bank account, filing a police report, obtaining prescription medication for themselves or their children, and picking up children from school.

Municipal IDs offer one way to show that a city welcomes immigrants. Funding deportation defense for city residents is another important step. We support all welcoming city initiatives, including expansion of municipal IDs, state legislation to safeguard privacy of personal information, and local funding for deportation defense.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Likely to pass? Not really, but it’s important to remember and focus on this big picture. Our immigration system is broken. Immigrants wait for years for decisions on their petitions, for their spouse’s or children’s place in line to move forward, for their case to be heard by an immigration judge. Just one example: after a U.S. citizen pays the fees and files all the paperwork for their unmarried adult son or daughter to get a green card, the son or daughter must wait for seven to 21 years before their number comes up. (And if the unmarried son or daughter is a national of one of the Muslim ban countries, the petition will be denied.)

We also have 10-11 million undocumented people living in the United States, most of whom have lived here for more than a decade, building lives and families and contributing to their communities. We all need them to have a path to legal residence.

Dreamers and TPS

Both DACA recipients and people with Temporary Protected Status have had minimal protection from deportation and work permits. The Trump administration ordered those protections removed for all DACA recipients and most TPS holders. Congress needs to pass legislation to protect current DACA recipients and all Dreamers who came to this country as children and know this country as their home, and to give them a path to permanent legal residence. Congress also needs to protect TPS holders, who have lived here for decades and whose countries are still unsafe for return, and to give them a path to permanent legal residence.

Asylum

U.S. law protects asylum seekers and gives them the right to ask for refuge here. The Trump administration has tried to stop asylum seekers from even asking for admission, has removed protection for victims of domestic violence and gang violence, and has insisted on jailing asylum seekers for years while their cases languish in an overburdened and backlogged immigration court system.

We will continue to push in both Congress and the courts for the protection of asylum seekers, as already guaranteed in U.S. law.

Deportation Budget

Under previous presidents, undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records were prioritized for deportation, Under this administration, everyone is a priority: a child with cerebral palsy, a father caring for his handicapped son, even permanent residents with minor criminal convictions. People with DUI convictions are now a major category of deportation cases.

To support this contrary-to-common-sense deportation policy, the administration is asking for major increases in funding. Congress must deny these increases and insist on a return to reason.

The Border

We do not need a border wall or soldiers at the border. The number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border has fallen dramatically since 2000, and continues at a lower level than in earlier years, contrary to all the heated rhetoric from the White House. We do not need to militarize the border to stop people who want to turn themselves in to U.S. authorities and ask for asylum. We need more capacity at the border to process asylum seekers and release them to await their hearings.

Dulceria Bakery’s sweet support of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) brought us through December and into the new year. Dulceria Bakery, a woman-owned, person-of-color owned, immigrant-owned small business in South Minneapolis, describes its business model as “being intentional about not-gendering people, recognizing multiculturalism as an asset, partnering with local, immigrant, BIPOC and LGBTQIA vendors and entrepreneurs, together as a comunidad…and baking the best pastries with a Mexican twist!” Dulceria Bakery supported ILCM with a donation of 10 percent of their holiday sales. ¡Mil gracias!

Thank you, also to Fair State Brewing Cooperative for choosing ILCM as their nonprofit partner for January through the Fair State Cooperates Program! Throughout the month, 10 percent of all Crowler sales will go towards supporting ILCM’s work in the community. Stop by Fair State sometime in January and support ILCM!

The annual Give To The Max Day in November brought in more than $22,000 from about 270 donors—thank you! Thanks also for your generous response to our year-end appeal, with more than $60,000 in donations.

We appreciate the small business support and imagination, and the ways that you continue to find to support our work. One friend posted on Facebook that he supports us through Amazon Smile. If you shop through Amazon, that’s a painless way to get a corporation to donate to ILCM, and the pennies per purchase can add up to make a difference.

We continue to be grateful for all of your support. You know we face major challenges as immigration policies become more restrictive and punitive. We will always stand with immigrants and refugees, and your support makes our work possible.

Visionaries, an award-winning public television series hosted by Sam Waterston, chose us as an organization to feature in a television documentary! They came to Minnesota to film during the week after Thanksgiving, visiting Moorhead, Austin, and Worthington, as well as St. Paul and Minneapolis. We are excited about the wonderful stories that they have to tell, highlighting immigrants and refugees, the issues of immigration today, and ILCM’s history and work.

Visiting us, they met lawyers, immigrants, refugees, and past and present board members. In St. Paul, they watched a naturalization ceremony for a client from Romania, and heard about the wonderful support that ILCM’s Martha Castañon gave to the family throughout the process. They interviewed a DACA recipient about his family and the help he had received from ILCM, and his current studies at the University of Minnesota. Visiting Dulceria Bakery in Minneapolis, they learned firsthand how Dulce works to create “a cozy, family-oriented space where intersectionality and inclusion are an everyday experience for each one of our customers, employees, and partners.”

In Moorhead, they met Martha in person, and saw the farm where she had picked cucumbers as a child, as well as sugar beet fields and plants. In Austin, Maylary Apolo showed them her family’s grocery store and introduced them to traditional Burmese holiday foods of Sweet December. Sara Karki explained how ILCM works collaboratively with partners in the Austin Area Minority Business Project.

A winter storm gave them a taste of Minnesota as they traveled on to Worthington, where they met Joyce Bennett Alvarado and Erin Schutte Wadzinski and experienced the Spanish Mass at St. Mary’s and an informational forum on immigration afterward.

Over the last 23 years, Visionaries has captured the stories of more than 150 nonprofit organizations in every corner of the world. The Visionaries series airs on public television stations across the country. We can’t wait to see how they show and tell the story of ILCM and immigrants and refugees in Minnesota. We hope to premiere the documentary in the fall of 2019 in the Twin Cities.

As we begin 2019, we welcome new staff and newly-elected board officers, and say farewell to two staff members who are moving on. Among the moves in ILCM over the winter: Julia Decker and Salma Ahmed will leave ILCM in January, and Tim Sanders Szabo, Stacey Brake, and Maggiy Emery joined the team.

New officers were elected to the board of directors in January: President – Irma Marquez Trapero; Vice-President – Maya Salah; Treasurer – Grant Ostler; Secretary – Kate Wasylik.

Stacey Brake joined ILCM as a staff attorney with her husky, Deems, who has quickly become quite a busy and popular new team member. With a background in criminal defense, Stacey finds ILCM an energizing organization doing vital work. Years ago, at a Catholic Worker house on Chicago’s South Side, she learned how to teach yoga through the originality and integrity of the kids she befriended there. She studied Sociology and Spanish at the University of San Diego which also presented opportunities for exploring how positive change and progress can happen. She attended law school at Saint Louis University, in her home state of Missouri, and served as public defender immediately following her graduation.

Maggiy Emery joined ILCM as a development associate in 2018 after several years working in finance and campaign fundraising, including positions with former Minneapolis city council member Gary Schiff, Minnesota’s second Congressional district Representative Angie Craig, and Minnesota’s first Congressional district candidate Dan Feehan. She also spent time as a program officer with The Open Door, working to provide food security in the south suburbs of the Twin Cities.

Tim Sanders Szabo graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2018. While in law school, he was a student attorney and then a student director in the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic where he represented clients in Immigration Court, before the Board of Immigration Appeals, and argued cases at the U.S. District Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. As the recipient of an Equal Justice Works Fellowship sponsored by 3M and Faegre Baker Daniels. Tim focuses on establishing medical-legal partnerships with clinics in North and South Dakota, working with ILCM attorneys, staff, and pro bono counsel to increase access to legal assistance for underserved non-citizens in those areas.

Salma Ahmed has helped many, many people who otherwise likely would not have secured legal representation to gain green cards, citizenship, work authorization, travel documents, and other legal relief. Each of these people has found, through Salma’s work, their way to greater security as residents or citizens of the United States. She also has reached many refugees and others at locations most convenient and comfortable to them and their families, and has provided a place for people to safely and confidently seek information and assistance. The ripple effect of Salma’s work is immeasurable and surely will persist.

Julia Decker’s advocacy, primarily for clients at risk of deportation, has made immeasurable difference in their lives and the lives of their families. Logging hundreds of miles driving to detention centers and immigration hearings, she has been the lifeline for people in danger of being separated from their families, communities, jobs, homes, and country. She has unflaggingly represented her clients even in those cases when it seemed futile. Whether her clients won in court or not, and no matter how isolated they were, they knew that they were important enough for her to spend time and energy fighting for them.

 

As John Keller leaves ILCM on January 31 to become Minnesota’s Chief Deputy Attorney General, Lenore Millibergity steps up as acting executive director.

“I couldn’t think of anyone better than Lenore,” Keller said. “She hired me, and has been my rock whenever I needed help and support, whether in an individual case or on policy issues.”

Millibergity began working for Oficina Legal, which later became the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, in 1987. She worked first as a staff attorney and then as supervising attorney. In 2005 she received Centro Legal’s Advocate for Justice Award for her service to the Latino community. She also received the Minnesota State Bar Association’s 2013 Bernard P. Becker Legal Services Staff Award.

Jenny Stohl Powell, who has decades of experience in immigration law and has worked with ILCM in the recent past, agreed to come back to work with the legal team.

The board of directors has approved a search committee. They plan to hire an outside firm to conduct a national search, which is expected to take three to six months. Founding directors Bill Mahlum and Karen Ellingson will work with the board and transition team.

“I have no reason for anything but optimism for the future once we get through the transition and the challenge of change,” said Keller. “With a strong staff and systems in place, and with a culture of getting things done, ILCM will continue to serve immigrants and refugees and the community throughout this transition and long into the future.”

Want to keep up with the latest news from ILCM? Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

President Trump’s statements last night revealed a position that is morally bankrupt, and a political ploy based on racist, anti-immigrant policies that this administration has consistently pursued. The crisis at the border is a humanitarian crisis, not one of national security, and that crisis was largely created by the policies of this administration.

“As an attorney who works every day with immigrants I am deeply concerned about the president’s appeals to fear and misstatements of facts about our southern border,” said Margaret Martin, legal director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. “Immigrants are a strong and important part of our nation. We need to recognize the contributions they make, from artists and Nobel Prize-winning scientists to health care workers providing the care that enables seniors to stay in their own homes. Fostering anti-immigrant prejudice harms all Americans.”

For weeks leading up to Tuesday’s presidential speech, members of the administration have been making false and misleading statements about immigrants and the imaginary threats they pose. Speaking from the Oval Office, the president continued to appeal to fear and prejudice. He continues to insist on a government shutdown unless he is granted a border wall that will destroy private property rights, create environmental damage, cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and ultimately accomplish no useful purpose.

We do not need a border wall. We are not facing a flood of new unauthorized immigrants. Moreover, most unauthorized immigrants overstay legal visas, having first entered by plane, not over the southern border. The total number of immigrants apprehended crossing the border is far below what it was in 2000. In past decades, most were single individuals from Mexico. For the last few years, most have been Central American families fleeing violence and poverty, the very populations our immigration laws seek to protect.

Our immigration law allows migrants to present themselves to U.S. authorities and ask for asylum. Instead, the Trump administration has drastically reduced the number of asylum applications processed at legal ports of entry, creating a humanitarian crisis at the border. Thousands of asylum seekers wait in Mexico, while others, desperate to escape danger in their home countries, cross the border in remote and dangerous areas.

“The United States can do better than this,” said Martin. “We can welcome refugees and immigrants, as we have for years. We can offer safety and shelter to those fleeing persecution in their home countries, and we have the capacity and the legal obligation to permit those arriving at our borders to apply for asylum. Doing so will keep us true to the best of what the United States means, and will strengthen our country through the continuing contributions of immigrants.”

The strong stances of courts in resisting the Trump administration’s worst anti-immigrant excesses offer hope for 2019.

John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, has been chosen by Minnesota Attorney General-elect Keith Ellison to serve as Chief Deputy Attorney General, the number-two attorney in the Office of the Attorney General. This marks a big transition for both Keller and ILCM, as he has spent more than 20 years with ILCM. Writing to ILCM board and staff, Keller said:

“I have considered very, very few things to be comparable to the amazing opportunity to do good that ILCM has provided me over these 20+ years. This is without doubt one that I know will allow me to build on what ILCM has taught and made me over these years. I have both a broken heart at the prospect of leaving ILCM, all of you, the amazing clients and partners; and, on the other hand, true excitement about building Minnesota’s AG office into one that strengthens all of Minnesota for those that need justice and systems to work better for them in these challenging times.”

In his press release announcing the appointment, Ellison said:

“The Attorney General is the People’s Lawyer, and John Keller is a people’s lawyer. For many years, John has successfully managed and grown a well-respected non-profit legal practice that has helped people of all backgrounds navigate complex areas of the law so that they can afford their lives, reach new dreams, and live with dignity. He brings to the Attorney General’s Office a unique combination of deep grassroots understanding of the struggles that low-income people, immigrants, and communities of color face, and deep connection to and recognition from the legal community in Minnesota and across the country.

“I can think of no one better suited to help me serve the people of Minnesota,”

[Full text of press release below.]

ILCM board and staff are working out specific transition timelines and will keep the community informed in the days to come. Board Chair Maya Salah and ILCM Associate Director Melissa Pfeiffer said:

“ILCM is a strong and vibrant organization which has supported leadership from many staff. We look confidently to continuing our essential work for immigrants and refugees, and our state and national leadership on immigration in these difficult times.

“Going forward, we will continue to keep the community informed on our work, on leadership transitions, and on plans for an opportunity to celebrate and wish John well in this new endeavor. We deeply appreciate your support in the past and look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.”

x x x x x

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: John Stiles, Ellison Transition, (612) 581-1788, john@keithellison.org

Attorney General-elect Ellison names John Keller Chief Deputy Attorney General

Long-time executive director of Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota to assist Ellison in helping Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity

December 26, 2018 (MINNEAPOLIS) — Minnesota Attorney General-elect Keith Ellison today announced that he has named John Keller to serve as Minnesota’s Chief Deputy Attorney
General.

“The Attorney General is the People’s Lawyer, and John Keller is a people’s lawyer,” Attorney General-elect Ellison said. “For many years, John has successfully managed and grown a well-respected non-profit legal practice that has helped people of all backgrounds navigate complex areas of the law so that they can afford their lives, reach new dreams, and live with dignity. He brings to the Attorney General’s Office a unique combination of deep grassroots understanding of the struggles that low-income people, immigrants, and communities of color face, and deep connection to and recognition from the legal community in Minnesota and across the country.

“I can think of no one better suited to help me serve the people of Minnesota,” Ellison concluded.

John Keller began his work at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in 1998 as a staff attorney and later as legal director. ILCM is a nonprofit agency that provides immigration legal assistance to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota. Since 2005 he has been ILCM’s executive director. In that time, he has transformed ILCM from a small, regional legal-services organization with five staff to Minnesota’s leading provider of free, high-quality, and comprehensive legal, policy, and education services with five offices statewide, 32 employees — a majority of whom are from immigrant, refugee, or mixed-family backgrounds — more than 350 trained pro bono attorneys, and a statewide and national reputation. In recent years, ILCM’s work has been commended by both the state and national American Immigration Bar Associations, Minnesota State Bar Association and Minnesota Lawyer among others.

Keller received his Juris Doctor cum laude from Hamline University in 1996 and worked at the League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota Court of Appeals before joining ILCM. He is licensed at the Minnesota Supreme Court and is admitted to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, the United States Court of Appeals for the 8^th Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Keller has twice been named Minnesota Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year and has been honored with the American Immigration Lawyers Association Human Rights Award, the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association Access to Justice Award, and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Excellence in Advocacy Award. The Minnesota Senate appointed Keller to the Legislature’s Ethnic Heritage and New American Working Group.

“I grew up on a small family dairy farm in May Township, north of Stillwater where I learned the importance of hard work, education, and service. I have had the opportunity to become the first lawyer in my family, to live abroad, and to raise a bilingual, bicultural family, and have never lost sight of those who have lacked access to resources or have been intentionally excluded,” Keller said.

“I am honored to help implement Keith Ellison’s vision as chief deputy attorney general. It represents the perfect opportunity to continue the work to which I’ve dedicated my professional life on a much larger scale in order to help transform lives and strengthen our democratic and legal systems and protections,” Keller added.

The Chief Deputy Attorney General serves as the number-two attorney in the Office of the Attorney General. As Chief Deputy, Keller will work with deputies and managers to implement the Attorney General’s vision of helping Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity. The Chief Deputy assists the Attorney General in managing the lawyers and legal assistants who provide legal representation for the many State agencies, boards, and other constitutional officers, and who protect the people of Minnesota from consumer fraud, anti-trust price fixing, or other unfair, discriminatory, or other unlawful practices in business, commerce, or trade. As Chief Deputy, Keller will also help fulfill Attorney General’s pledge of providing increased assistance to county attorneys, particularly in Greater Minnesota.

Keith Ellison will be sworn in as Minnesota’s 30^th attorney general on January 7, 2019.

# # #

After courts overturned administration restrictions on asylum, DHS said it will send asylum seekers to Mexico.

City and state governments are taking the lead in welcoming and protecting immigrants and refugees. Though immigration law is federal, state and local jurisdictions can take strong stands to protect and welcome immigrants and refugees. That’s happening across the country, and across Minnesota. Some of the ways that Minnesota communities welcome and protect immigrants and refugees include providing legal representation for residents facing deportation hearings, “welcoming city” resolutions, city separation ordinances, electing immigrant-supporting candidates for local office, and more.

Defending Immigrants and Refugees

During 2018, the city of St. Paul and both Hennepin and Ramsey Counties set up immigrant defense funds. These funds will provide attorneys for residents who are in deportation proceedings.

If someone is charged with a crime, and faces the possibility of even one day in jail, they have a right to a public defender. If an immigrant faces possible deportation from the country where they have lived for 25 years, they do not have a right to a public defender. In immigration courts, there are no public defenders. Immigration law and courts are extremely complicated. Immigrants who are represented by attorneys are more likely to be released from detention, to appear at all their court hearings, and ultimately are up to ten times more likely to win their cases.

Minneapolis has established an Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to serve immigrant and refugee residents in Minneapolis. Attorney Michelle Rivero heads the office. Minneapolis also provides other services, such as know-your-rights presentations and training for volunteers to staff an immigration detention hotline.

St. Paul will hire a full-time attorney in the city attorney’s office with a focus on immigration. City Attorney John Choi said that the immigration attorney will advise on charging, so that prosecutors can avoid charging in ways that trigger deportation proceedings.

“We’re not taking about cases with killers or rapists, but probationary-type offenses,” he said. “So these are cases where a U.S. citizen would get probation, but someone who doesn’t have that status would get convicted of the same charge and suffer a very harsh collateral consequence.”

The new attorney will also assist with expungements and U Visa cases.

Especially in today’s climate of stepped-up raids, arrests, and deportations, legal representation for immigrants is crucial. But that’s not the only, or the first step that Minnesota cities and counties have taken to protect and welcome immigrants and refugees.

Separation Ordinances: The First Step

Some 15 years ago, Minneapolis adopted an “immigration separation” ordinance. Chapter 19 of the municipal code provides that city employees “shall only solicit immigration information or inquire about information status when specifically required to do so by law or program guidelines as a condition of eligibility for the service sought.” Public safety officers are similarly limited to “Investigate and inquire about immigration status when relevant to the potential or actual prosecution of the case or when immigration status is an element of the crime.”

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak explained in 2007:

“The role of the police officer is to protect and to serve every person who is in Minneapolis. We know that if there is a fear that reporting something to the police could jeopardize someone’s immigration status, including those that have legal status, then people will not come forward with the information that we need to know. We need people to report domestic abuse, we need them to report gang activity. We have seen many cases where people are afraid to come forward for fear that it will jeopardize their immigration status, even if they are legal immigrants.”

St. Paul followed suit a year later, with the City Council unanimously adopting a separation ordinance in April 2004.

These are the ordinances that Trump and his administration commonly denounce as “sanctuary cities.” In 2017, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman clarified what the separation ordinances do and do not mean:

“City of Saint Paul employees are not immigration officials. I want to be very clear about what the law is — and has been since 2004 — in Saint Paul. Chapter 44 of the City’s Administrative Code is entitled “Employee Authority in Immigration Matters” and is understood as a separation ordinance. Cities call these “separation ordinances” to emphasize the separate role of local law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement. While I would encourage everyone to read it for themselves, the fundamental provisions of the chapter are the following:

• The City works cooperatively with the DHS, as it does with all state and federal agencies, but the City does not operate DHS programs for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws.
• It is the policy of the City that all residents are equally entitled to protection and that all residents should be able to access City services to which they are entitled, without regard to their immigration status under federal law.
• Public safety personnel may assist federal law enforcement officers in the investigation of criminal activity involving individuals present in the United States who may also be in violation of federal civil immigration laws.

“In plain language:

“The City of Saint Paul wants all its residents to feel comfortable seeking out City services — including law enforcement — when they are in need. We want everyone to call the police when they are the victim of or witness to a crime without fear they will be asked about their immigration status. We want everyone to call the paramedics in a medical emergency, enroll their children in after-school programs or use our library services. Our staff — including our police officers — will not ask for proof of immigration status. Period.”

While Trump and his administration denounce sanctuary cities as havens for criminals, it is clear from these descriptions that is not the case. Minneapolis and St. Paul enforce state laws, but refuse to hunt down undocumented immigrants who are peacefully living and working here. Instead, they support law enforcement by promising not to inquire about immigration status when people seek city services or are victims of or witnesses to crimes.

That does not stop ICE from operating inside the cities: Minneapolis and St. Paul have no control over ICE.

Sheriffs, Jails, and Police

Minneapolis and St. Paul city governments do not control the Hennepin County and Ramsey County sheriffs, who run the jails in these jurisdictions. Outgoing Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek fully cooperated with ICE, furnishing names of immigrants, release times, and access to the jail to ICE officers. That became a major issue in the 2018 election, and Stanek was defeated by Dave “Hutch” Hutchinson, who promised to end collaboration with ICE.

“John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, which offers legal representation to county residents facing deportation, said “the willingness of immigrant victims to trust police … just got a whole lot better because of this election.”

“There is a very stark difference between the two candidates,” he said. “The positive focus on doing public safety instead of doing civil immigration collaboration, I think is an extremely important change of culture.”

In Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey announced in October 2018 that all squad cars will have a “Know-Your-ICE-Rights” placard, in both English and Spanish.

The city policy is clear, despite resistance from some individual police officers and the head of the police union.

Welcoming Cities

Across the state, Minnesota communities have adopted “welcoming cities” resolutions, often in response to small but vocal anti-immigrant groups. When one St. Cloud city council member began talking about banning refugees, the city council responded with a 5-1 vote for a welcoming resolution.

“I think it’s important to show people this one guy bringing forward a resolution is not the voice of the City Council or the voice of the people of our community,” [City Council member Jeff] Goerger said prior to the meeting. “The mayor has been asking for the council to take some action. I feel it was my place to put my thoughts on paper and bring it forward.”…

“Goerger’s resolution states “St. Cloud is welcoming to all residents without regard to age, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, religion or country of origin, and we renew our commitment to foster a community in which all people have the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness.” 

Willmar and St. Joseph also passed welcoming resolutions in 2018, with Hutchinson voting down a welcoming resolution. Austin, Winona, and Minneapolis are listed on the Welcoming America website, and Rochester has long been a welcoming city with its own Welcome Center for immigrants and refugees.

Besides formal welcoming resolutions, local government bodies pass specific resolutions, such as the December Minneapolis City Council resolution opposing the Federal government’s policies  restricting  the  ability  to  seek  asylum  in  the  US  and reaffirming the city’s support of immigrants or the August Hennepin County Board direction to staff to ask federal immigration agents to behave better while on county property.

Northfield became the first city in Minnesota to issue municipal IDs to residents, including undocumented immigrants in July.

Minneapolis approved a municipal ID program in December, a move characterized by the Star Tribune as “a smart policy that will help more immigrant residents conduct business and fully participate in the city’s economy and civic life.”

Welcome/Not Welcome

Despite the efforts described above, immigrants and refugees face prejudice and danger in Minnesota, as well as in the rest of the country. The 2018 electoral campaign’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and ads provided many examples of that prejudice. So do actions by local law enforcement in many jurisdictions, and the increasing number of hate crimes, reported and unreported.

Nonetheless, communities across Minnesota show that local action can make a positive difference for immigrants and refugees—and that’s good for all of us.