Elorza: “Providence Will Continue to Arrest Individuals on ICE Warrants”
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza's office said Monday that the city "will continue to arrest individuals on federal criminal arrest warrants issued by ICE" -- after Elorza said over the weekend that the city "would not sacrifice any of its people."
On Sunday, President-Elect Donald Trump promised to arrest and deport two to three million immigrants with criminal records. Trump's comments were reported by The Hill, prior to the airing of the his 60 Minutes interview.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably 2 million — it could be even 3 million — we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” President-Elect Trump said in an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes." “But we’re getting them out of our country. They’re here illegally.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTGoLocal asked Elorza's office, "If the President signs an executive order January 20 (or soon thereafter), ordering federal and state agencies to arrest and deport illegal immigrants with felony convictions, will the City of Providence comply?
"Regardless of Executive Order, Providence will continue to arrest individuals on federal criminal arrest warrants issued by the ICE or any other federal criminal investigatory body," said Acting Director of Communications Emily Crowell.
Conflicting Comments
The comments come in contrast to those made in the Providence Journal on Monday. Reporter Tim Mooney wrote:
Elorza’s comments were made hours after he told hundreds of people gathered Saturday evening at Hope High School in opposition to Trump’s agenda that Providence would join Los Angeles and New York City in protecting its undocumented citizens.
"I’ve been in touch with both mayors [from those cities] and I’ve told them that we’re going to stand together on this," Elorza told The Providence Journal Sunday afternoon. "We’re not going to sacrifice any of our people and we’re going to continue with the policy we’ve always had."
That policy requires Providence, like any other community, to hold anyone with an immigration detainer who is charged with a crime. But the city has refused for years to hold for possible deportation any undocumented immigrant charged with a simple civil infraction.
Latest in "Sanctuary City Debate"
The Center for Immigration Studies has listed all of Rhode Island as a "sanctuary state" due to the policy enacted under then-Governor Lincoln Chafee that the Department of Corrections wouldn't honor a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer without a warrant, then altered to require that detainers be accompanied by a judicial deportation or removal order.
Governor Gina Raimondo and Attorney General Peter Kilmartin refused to answer the question on Monday; Central Falls Mayor James Diossa provided comment.
"Ensuring public safety in Central Falls is one of my primary responsibilities as Mayor. Currently, if a person is charged with a felony in Central Falls and that person has an immigration hold, they are reported to ICE. That is our policy," said Diossa. "I'm not going to speculate about what the President-Elect may or may not do in the future. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and push for comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level."
Elorza's comments came after his office announced the launch of a new "One Providence Initiative" on Monday, which will include "weekly announcements touching upon local immigration reform; implicit and embedded Racism; criminal justice reform; police-community relations; environmental justice; and support for women and families, muslims and religious minorities; and the LGBTQ community."
“These announcements are an expression of our values as a city,” said Elorza. “While folks may feel threatened by what they hear at the national level, I want them to know that they are supported and they are safe here in Providence.”
A community forum is scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday, November 16, at 7:00PM at Iglesia Vision Evangelica at 1014 Broad Street.
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