Two Democratic legislators, Rep. Stephanie Howse of Cleveland and Rep. Dan Ramos of Lorain, on Tuesday blasted a proposal to hold local officials criminally liable for acts of undocumented immigrants and said they will introduce legislation to bar the state from interfering with community decisions on immigration.Ohio Channel
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Republican Ohio Rep. Candice Keller and Treasurer Josh Mandel want to ban sanctuary cities in Ohio.
In response, a pair of Northeast Ohio Democrats want to pass a law barring the state from interfering with community decisions on immigrants.
Reps. Stephanie Howse of Cleveland and Dan Ramos of Lorain say Keller and Mandel’s plan is bigoted and shouldn’t even be given a hearing.
“I would like to think the legislature is better than this,” Ramos said. “I’m calling on the speaker of the House to hold no hearings.”
What’s a sanctuary city?
“Sanctuary city”is a term broadly applied to cities and counties that choose not to partner with federal officials to enforce federal immigration laws. Local police don’t have the authority enforce federal law, and cooperation with federal officials is voluntary.
At Monday’s announcement, Mandel and Keller said those cities are shirking their duty. Mandel said several times that in his view, they are violating federal law.
In a sanctuary city, police officers do not inquire about someone’s immigration status during routine police work or decline to detain people after they’ve been freed, unless there’s warrant obtained by the feds.
Keller’s legislation would make local officials subject to criminal prosecution if an undocumented immigrant committed a crime.
What’s the objection?
Ramos and Howse said the proposal would force communities to spend local tax dollars on federal law enforcement, keeping police from investigating local crime and causing immigrants to view them as an enemy.
“It’s not up to us to create a second immigration enforcement service,” Ramos said. “When police are working on immigration – state and local police – they’re not solving crime. They’re checking papers.”
Neither Keller nor Mandel could name one example in Ohio where an undocumented immigrant was released and then committed a serious crime.
Howse, on Tuesday, said FBI crime data shows that’s because it hasn’t happened. The language and the accusations, she said, amounts to “white supremacy.”
“We will not demean and devalue the people,” she said.
What are Howse and Ramos proposing?
The two Democrats intend to introduce legislation that would bar the state from interfering with community decisions to be sanctuary cities.
Getting the bill through the House will require support from Republicans, who hold a large majority. Ramos’ hope is that fiscally conservative Republicans will support the measure as a means of preventing communities from spending local tax dollars on something that should be a federal expense.
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