On Valentine's Day, Mayor Pens Open Letter To Austin Promoting Tolerance While Cutting Through The ICE

AUSTIN, TX — In a Valentine of sorts to his city, Mayor Steve Adler penned an open letter to Austin on Tuesday designed to foster a sense of inclusion and tolerance at as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stealthily sweep the city in bolstered efforts to root out undocumented immigrants.

"Austin is a welcoming, inclusive community where we prioritize everyone’s safety," the mayor wrote on the municipal website. "With the current immigration enforcement action, we need ever more to visibly express and reaffirm our values, individually and collectively. The overly broad way these ICE raids are being conducted is making our community less safe and causing disproportionate harm by dividing the families of non-serious offenders and others who are of no threat and have been caught merely in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He assured residents that the crackdown on immigrants is occurring without coordination of local law enforcement, who prefer a more nuanced approach enforcing immigration policy at the local level. Both Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez and interim Police Chief Brian Manley have conveyed their preferred approach to focus on hardened felons rather than act as de facto immigration enforcement agents at the behest of ICE in conducting broad sweeps in search of migrants.

That more nuanced approach is less rooted in altruism than it is based on the need to build community trust, both law enforcement officials have stated. Aggressive enforcement in minority communities in seeking out immigrants for deportation have a net effect of community mistrust and often lead to a reluctance among that population to report crimes to police for fear of being discovered to be in the country illegally, both Hernandez and Manley have expressed.

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Adler reiterated that stance in his letter to the community, adding that the recent ICE raids begun last week have already had a chilling effect on an anxious immigrant class.

"These secretive raids are occurring without any coordination with the Austin Police Department police or the Travis County Sheriff’s Office," Adler said. "One consequence of this is the fear and panic among many of our neighbors who do not pose threats to our community. Some family members are disappearing with their whereabouts unknown. Some parents, fearful of apprehension, aren’t sure of what will happen to their US-born citizen children, not to mention the home they’ve owned for years and into which they’ve placed all their family savings. These raids are sowing distrust, not just with ICE but even with local law enforcement, and that makes our community less safe."

Interim Police Chief Manley addressed the ICE raids in a recent press conference, saying police aren't concerned with a resident's citizenship status. The focus, he said, is on keeping the city safe. Adler reiterated that position in his open letter.

"Austin police continue to serve the entire community without regard to immigration status," Adler said. "We are one of the safest communities in the country in large part because of the trust our residents place in our local law enforcement personnel. We are told by our law enforcement professionals, our police chief (as with his predecessor), our sheriff, and even the Major Cities Chiefs Association, that participating in a voluntary, warrantless “detainer” program, which is not required by law, will make our community less safe because it jeopardizes community trust."

The so-called "detainers" the mayor referenced are holds placed on people arrested for any manner of infraction to allow ICE agents enough time to arrive from their San Antonio base to fetch detainees and process them for deportation proceedings. Such holds are for up to 48 hours but reportedly sometimes longer if a person has the misfortune to be ensnared during a weekend or holiday when available agents are scarce and unavailable to retrieve them.

During the voluntary "ICE detainers," detainees aren't allowed to post bond. Under former Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton — an enthusiastic ICE partner in aggressively enforcing immigration policy at their behest — the city emerged as one of the nation's most prolific deporters, out of sync with the more progresssive vibe Austin officials espouse. Hernandez reversed that policy upon taking office following her November election, opting for a policy that focuses on high-level criminals — earning the ire of Gov. Greg Abbott in the process, who has threatened to remove her from her post and stripped the county of need grants as a result.

Adler noted that Austin is not alone in its softened approach, notwithstanding the city's reputation for more progressive policies and its blue tint on the electoral map amid a sea of Texas red.

"In fact, and you wouldn’t know it from the debate here locally, local authorities in 43 states refused to honor more than 16,000 detainer requests from ICE from October 2013 to December 2015," Adler wrote. "Only in Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Vermont and Wyoming did local officials honor all requests, and detainers are relatively rare in those states."

The mayor cited his source in making the assertion, attributing the data to the Pew Charitable Trusts. He also quoted Darrell Stephens, director of the Mayor Cities Chiefs Association, for added emphasis: “A good many jails and even states have said that they will not honor the detainer requests without a warrant. This is not an unreasonable request and certainly doesn’t mean they’re unwilling to cooperate. They just want to ensure they are operating within the law.”

Adler vowed to continue to publicly espouse the values of his city, and asked residents on both sides of the ideological divide as it relates to their stance on immigration policy to express themselves too, but peacefully.

"I will continue to speak out in defense of our community and urge people on all sides of this issue to continue to make themselves heard clearly and peacefully," Adler said. "Please, do not put yourself or our local police in danger. Our police department wants all residents in Austin to be safe regardless of their immigration status."

Adler ticked off a number of resources available for those being impacted by the ongoing ICE presence:

• A resource-rich portal created by Austin ISD officials to help navigate immigrant and refugee students, parents and employees. through amid the ICE crackdown. The portal can be accessed by clicking here.
• A link to see legal help or for those wishing to volunteer to help affected residents, along with contact information for several local immigration legal aid organizations, found here.
• For those wishing to donate to legal aid organizations, there are ways of giving directly, Adler said. Moreover, the Travis County #StrongerTogether Fund launched by State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez enables residents to contribute money to the county in making up for the $1.5 million shortfall created by Abbott's funds cutoff. The grants Abbott blocked as a punitive move against a city and county he sees as soft on immigration help fund crucial programs for Travis County women, children and veterans — programs now in jeopardy as a result of the governor's action.

"Until this ICE enforcement operation leaves town, and then should it ever return, I will continue to monitor the situation and stay in close contact with our police chief, City of Austin management, my colleague local elected officials, and the Mexican consul general," Adler wrote. "In this difficult situation, it is so important for us to show our neighbors and the world who we are and what we’re made of. Let’s take care of each other."

>>> Official photo of Mayor Steve Adler courtesy of City of Austin