By Ray Dombrowski
BUFFALO — Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope wants to turn Mayor Sean Ryan’s order keeping city employees and police out of federal civil immigration enforcement into a local law that a future mayor could not undo with a stroke of a pen.
A resolution she is sponsoring for Tuesday’s 2 p.m. Common Council session, item 26-000902, directs Corporation Counsel to draft a local law codifying Executive Order No. 2026-001, which Mr. Ryan signed Jan. 26, his first order as mayor.
“While executive orders establish administrative policy, codifying these protections into local law would provide greater continuity, transparency, and accountability beyond any individual mayoral administration,” the resolution wrote.
What the resolution asks for
The resolution, published in the Council’s agenda packet, asks Corporation Counsel to fold the order’s main provisions into the city code: limits on using city personnel and resources for civil immigration enforcement, nondiscrimination requirements, limits on collecting and sharing immigration-related information, restrictions on federal access to nonpublic city facilities, and due-process protections.
It would also change one part of the order. Section 7 of the executive order requires annual reporting on requests the city receives from federal civil immigration authorities. Ms. Halton-Pope’s version would require those reports quarterly and send them to both the mayor and the Council.
Corporation Counsel would be asked to deliver a draft within 10 days of the resolution’s adoption and to check it against New York’s General Municipal Law Section 996-a, two federal statutes on information sharing with immigration authorities, 8 U.S.C. Sections 1373 and 1644, and the state Municipal Home Rule Law. The draft would then go to a Council committee.
The resolution says “every resident of the City of Buffalo, regardless of immigration status or country of origin, should be able to access municipal services, seek assistance, report crimes, and interact with local government without fear of discrimination or intimidation.”
What the order already does
Mr. Ryan has said the order does not stop Buffalo police from enforcing criminal law. When he signed it, he said the city would keep honoring judicial warrants and arresting people accused of violent crimes, Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported.
“We’re still going to arrest violent criminals regardless of their immigration status, but we’re not going to expend city resources on civil immigration enforcement,” Mr. Ryan said at the January signing.
“Regardless of your views on ICE this shouldn’t be controversial,” he said. “The City of Buffalo Police Department doesn’t track down people who didn’t pay their taxes to the IRS. Buffalo Police don’t arrest people for parking violations. Why? Because those are both civil matters.”
He said then that the order largely put existing city practice in writing.
Police union and GOP reaction
The Buffalo Police Benevolent Association did not oppose the order when it was issued. “The members of the Buffalo PBA have always focused on keeping the residents and visitors of the city of Buffalo safe. This has not changed,” PBA President John Davidson wrote in a statement to BTPM.
Erie County Republican Chair Michael Kracker called it “clear political action that puts ideology ahead of public safety.”
“Limiting cooperation between the Buffalo Police Department, city employees, and federal authorities makes Buffalo less safe and weakens law enforcement’s ability to protect our neighborhoods and the officers who serve them,” Mr. Kracker wrote, according to BTPM.
Supporters argue that immigrants who fear the police will not report crimes or come forward as witnesses. Critics argue that restricting cooperation with federal agents can let people with criminal histories slip through. Federal law, in 8 U.S.C. Section 1373, bars localities from prohibiting their employees from sharing citizenship or immigration-status information with federal immigration officials, which is why the resolution asks Corporation Counsel to review the draft against it.
What happens Tuesday
The resolution only starts the drafting process. Any local law would still need a committee review, a Council vote and the mayor’s signature, and could be the subject of a public hearing.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked Ms. Halton-Pope’s office and Mr. Ryan’s office for comment.
Elsewhere on the blotter
Timon Street arrests: Buffalo police arrested Levar Chamberlain, 28, on Saturday in connection with a Sept. 27 shooting that sent a man to Erie County Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the arm, WGRZ reported. He is charged with first-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree criminal mischief, and police said he was on parole. Officers executing a search warrant on Timon Street recovered about 7 grams of suspected cocaine, 34 suspected oxycodone pills, 129 suspected Suboxone strips and $3,000 in cash, police said. Mr. Chamberlain and Antwan Chamberlain, 26, each face drug possession charges. Charges are accusations; both are presumed innocent.
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