HUDSON — Additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are being sent to several sanctuary cities across the nation.
Hudson, designated a welcoming and inclusive city nearly three years ago, is not on the list.
Customs and Border Patrol will send 50 border patrol agents and 50 field operations custom officers to various sanctuary cities, according to the agency.
New York City, and Newark, New Jersey are on the list, as are Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Detroit and other cities. The increased deployment will run from February to May 2020.
In March 2017, the Hudson Common Council passed a resolution to affirm the city of Hudson as a welcoming and inclusive city. This includes city departments’ commitment to providing local government services to residents regardless of immigration status.
“The enforcement of federal immigration laws is the prerogative of federal enforcement agencies, not local law agencies,” according to the resolution.
The Hudson Police Department has a policy of not inquiring into a person’s immigration status upon initial contact, except when necessary to investigate a crime that person is accused of committing.
When the Common Council first introduced the resolution, they spoke about concerns of losing federal funding and of Hudson perceived as a place for illegal residents to hide out.
“Sanctuary cities release these criminals back to the street, it increases the occurrence of preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims,” Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence said in a statement.
The action was being taken in response to sanctuary-city law enforcement agencies not cooperating with federal authorities by turning over immigrants held in local jails, Albence said.
As a result, federal officers “are forced to make at-large arrests of criminal aliens who have been released into communities,” Albence said.
Two incidents involving ICE officers occurred over the past year in Hudson.
The first, a raid on Casa Latina Restaurant, resulted in the arrest of one community member.
The second was a thwarted arrest attempt by three ICE agents. Hudson resident and Columbia County Sanctuary Movement Director Bryan MacCormack was driving two community members from court when ICE stopped his vehicle.
Two Hudson police officers were sent to the scene to monitor the situation.
“When we are advised by any police agency in the city about the potential for violence, we will respond 100 percent of the time,” Hudson Police Chief L. Edward Moore said. “Our mission is to not only to ensure the safety of the officer, but also the public and the defendant.”
The ICE Buffalo Field Office is responsible for all of upstate and western New York, and did not respond to request for comment.
The Tribune News Service contributed to this report. Abby Hoover is a reporter for the Register-Star. Contact her at (518) 828-1616 ext. 2500 or ahoover@registerstar.com.
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