The Detroit City Council is considering action to protect residents as activists renew demands to declare Detroit a sanctuary city and exile federal immigration agents that residents described as lawless and dangerous.
Discussion on severing ties with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stretched nearly three hours on Tuesday as dozens of residents addressed the council. Roughly 100 people submitted public comments about ICE protections to the City Clerk’s Office.
No action was taken — Council President James Tate Jr. said the body must first gather facts about its powers to constrain federal agents. At the same time as the meeting, a few miles away, President Donald Trump spoke at a Detroit Economic Club event at Motor City Casino, amid multiple protests outside.
District 6 Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero submitted memos last week seeking a legal analysis of the council’s ability to keep ICE away from certain areas and a report on how Detroit police interact with ICE. DPD policy prohibits officers from asking residents for their citizen status, but police aren’t banned from supporting ICE operations.
“An important piece here is verifying information,” Santiago-Romero said in an interview after the meeting. “It’s also important to talk about the fact that ICE is not doing their job to protect us. They are literally robbing, stealing, killing people (across the country). Is that not enough grounds for us to say ‘We don’t need you here?’”
A coalition of several community organizations said they’ve tracked federal agents harassing residents, including US citizens, with no accountability. Omar Santana, a U.S. Army veteran, said organizers tracking ICE activity often see what looks like vigilante justice. “Men dressed like cops” who don’t carry badges or official identification are stalking residents, he said.
“This is real life,” Santana said. “It might not be your reality, but it’s the reality of many Detroit residents right now. People like me have stood up and stand out in order to help people navigate their way through this system. This (Trump) administration is not here to protect us.”
Santiago-Romero asked residents to help document incidents where local police support ICE. Detroit hasn’t seen the same level of attention as other cities like Chicago or Los Angeles, but Santiago-Romero said deportations are happening nearly every day and council members “aren’t seeing the full picture.”
District 7 Police Commissioner Victoria Camille said ahead of the council’s formal session that she’s investigating whether data from license plate cameras and other police surveillance tools are being collected by immigration agents. District 7 Council Member Denzel McCampbell led a motion to seek a report on what city contractors sell or share data with third-party brokers.
“If ICE can just get into these systems and view the information, there’s no need (for police) to actively assist, they’re passively assisting by having the technology in place,” Camille said.
“We have in Detroit a city charter that puts civilian oversight over our law enforcement,” she added. “When you start to have law enforcement agencies moving through here that have no types of checks and balances, that just operate with impunity, it doesn’t work for us.”
Activists have unsuccessfully called for Detroit to become a sanctuary city multiple times over the years. Residents were mobilized this week by the death of Renee Good, a citizen who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
Vice President JD Vance declared the officer has “absolute immunity,” prompting U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, to remove the legal shield from ICE agents. Thanedar also plans to introduce legislation to abolish ICE this week. There is “no way to reform” an agency that “consistently produces harm instead of justice,” he said in a press release.
State Sen. Stephanie Chang of Detroit said Good’s death shows the Trump administration’s deportation effort “makes us all less safe” and is creating a criminal justice crisis. She joined activists near the Spirit of Detroit statue outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center for a demonstration before Tuesday’s council session.
Chang tearfully reflected on incidents where ICE detained Detroit teens who were seeking asylum and Ernesto Cuevas Enciso, who had legal authorization to work and was working toward a green card after getting married to a U.S. citizen in 2023.
“These are not folks who should be in detention right now,” Chang said. “The mass deportation and detention efforts that are happening across our country are not only unprecedented, they are inhumane, and they need to end.”
Chang co-sponsored a package of bills to create more accountability for ICE enforcement. The bills were introduced last November.
- Senate Bill 508 would prevent law enforcement from performing immigration enforcement in “sensitive” locations like schools, places of worship, hospitals, domestic violence shelters and mental health facilities.
- Senate Bill 509 would ban government entities from providing identifying information without a court-issued warrant.
- Senate Bill 510 would prevent law enforcement officers from wearing masks and require them to display visible identification when interacting with the public.
Kassandra Rodriguez of the Detroit Community Action Committee said Mayor Mary Sheffield has an opportunity to decide “what type of mayor she wants to be.”
Rodriguez was among several residents who called on Sheffield to follow mayors in other cities who signed executive orders to ban ICE from using city property as staging grounds for raids and prevent local police from aiding ICE agents. Sheffield did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Santiago-Romero said she expects Sheffield to be willing to work on creative solutions to protect residents while not making Detroit “a target for the federal government.” However, the council member is skeptical that local government action can make much change on ICE.
“I hear the needs and the cries for the government to do something, but I truly believe that when it’s the government that is harming you, that is not where the solution is,” Santiago-Romero said after Tuesday’s meeting. “My fear is that we call ourselves a sanctuary city, say we’re banning (ICE) and then none of that is legal, none of that matters, we’re a target and things are worse.
“The real protection is going to come from mutual aid, people doing the hard work of being on call, figuring out who in your neighborhood needs rides to school, what seniors need to go to the doctor, or need groceries.”
At-Large Council Member Mary Waters said she’s waiting to hear more from the Detroit Police Department before supporting any immigration enforcement bans.
“We are creatures of the federal government, and that’s what people continue to forget,” Waters said after the meeting. “We have to be careful about how we do things here at the local level. We have a state house that could also penalize us for things that we do here at this level. So we have two tiers at this time that we must consider before we act, and we have to be very careful about that.”
A few residents who spoke during Tuesday’s meeting have repeatedly criticized the council for focusing on immigrants, arguing it’s taken attention away from Black residents. One commenter became angry with Santana, drawing security when Santana tried to express solidarity with him. Other residents said the escalation of ICE tactics will hurt non-immigrants as well.
“It is wrong for people to be getting killed, but we also have an entire city that we have to look out for,” Waters said. “There’s no other group that has been mistreated in this country any worse than Black people have. That’s just a fact. Having said that though, whatever measures we can put in place without hurting the entire city. I’m willing to do that. I just don’t know what all of those are right now.”
Informal networks of grassroots groups like Southwest Pride and Detroit People’s Assembly are providing aid to families, Santiago-Romero said.
Santiago-Romero said she’s talked with Sheffield about boosting funding for the Office of Immigrant Affairs to make it more effective and proactive. She hopes to launch a new immigrant needs assessment through the office.
Sheffield’s Chief of Staff David Bowser said on Monday the Office of Immigrant Affairs is “supposed to be the voice of immigrants in this city.” The office will be overseen by Detroit’s new Chief Executive of Health, Human Services and Poverty Solutions Luke Shaefer. Shaefer said responding to concerns about ICE enforcement is a “top priority.”
“I know that this is something that’s very much on people’s minds,” he said during a Monday press conference announcing his appointment. “We’re going to be talking with the mayor and the administration, seeing what’s being done around the country and formulating the best possible plan.”