JERSEY CITY — The City Council unanimously tonight approved a measure expressing support for last week’s executive order designating Jersey City as a sanctuary city, with Council President Rolando Lavarro saying the action will “send a resounding message” to President Trump.
Choking back tears and quoting from the Bible, Lavarro said he is angry about Trump’s recent actions targeting illegal immigrants and refugees.
“It makes me angry … to know that that this administration, the kind of fear it’s stoked in immigrant communities,” Lavarro said.
The measure also expresses support for creating a municipal ID program, establishing a policy requiring the city to report how many times it is asked to participate in immigration enforcement operations and more.
The council’s action was met with a partial standing ovation from dozens of people in the audience who had come to the meeting to pressure council members to vote in favor. A chant of “no ban, no wall, sanctuary for all” broke out shortly after the unanimous vote by the council.
“It’s really encouraging to see such a united diverse group of Jersey City residents who echo the values that our entire city has,” said Councilwoman Candice Osborne. “I’m proud of all of you.”
A federal judge last week suspended Trump’s order that restricts travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States, leading to a showdown yesterday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Trump said today that the nation is “at risk” because the order has been suspended.
“You can suspend, you can put restrictions, you can do whatever you want, and this is for the security of the country,” the president said today.
A woman who spoke to The Jersey Journal last week after Fulop signed the executive order, which she opposed, was in tears over the action, saying she feels like she doesn’t “belong here anymore.”
Tonight Lavarro said he believes he knows who that woman is — The Jersey Journal did not identify her — and he addressed remarks to her.
“She’s not a bad person,” he said. “She’s a good and decent person and I want to say to her and to other folks like that, that you do belong here, and we all belong here and we can live here together and we can struggle here together and we’re all in this together.”
Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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