Mayor Rybak, Chief Dolan Urge Immigration Agents to Identify
City Leaders say Immigration Agents Should be Distinguished from Minneapolis Police
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan are calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to end their current practice of wearing vests that say “police” on them. In a letter sent to the local ICE supervisor Mark Cangemi yesterday, Rybak and Dolan strongly urged ICE agents to immediately and comprehensively wear visible identification that clearly distinguishes them from Minneapolis Police Officers.
Some ICE agents currently wear vests with “police” printed on them with no other designation distinguishing them from Minneapolis police officers while conducting raids and other immigration customs enforcement activities in Minneapolis. Rybak and Dolan said that this designation is confusing to residents and disruptive to local law enforcement.
“The role of local law enforcement is first and foremost to protect public safety, and public safety is best served when people with the greatest need trust and work with their police,” Rybak and Dolan’s letter said. “Without trust in local law enforcement, people are needlessly trapped in dangerous situations. If there are families afraid of going to the police for fear of arrest, that threatens all of our civil liberties and makes our neighborhoods less safe.”
“By not clearly identifying, ICE agents unnecessarily damage our ability to protect and serve our citizens,” Rybak and Dolan said. “In Minneapolis, we strive to encourage all our communities to report crime. We will do our part to identify ourselves as “Minneapolis Police” on our outer garments and we believe that ICE can safely and clearly identify themselves on their raid vests as ICE.”
Minneapolis has a city ordinance preventing city police from asking about immigration status or enforcing federal immigration laws. “Minneapolis has decided that immigration status should not inhibit a person’s ability to report serious crime,” Rybak added. “Violating this trust hurts our police officers’ ability to create relationships and build networks in our community, which are our first line of defense in preventing and suppressing serious crimes such as domestic abuse, narcotics and terrorism.”
The City Council is expected to pass a resolution today joining Mayor Rybak and Chief Dolan’s call on ICE to visibly identify and distinguish themselves from city police. Mayor Rybak strongly encourages the City Council to adopt this resolution and promised to sign it if it passes.
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