Iowa City right panel calls for policy changes, education

The Iowa City Human Rights Commission is recommending the adoption of policies clarifying city employees' roles as related to federal immigration enforcement.

The City Council sought the commission's advice after being asked to adopt a so-called sanctuary city status that typically involves policies directing city employees not to ask about immigration status or enforcing federal immigration laws.

Although the recommendations, which are on the council's Sept. 19 work session agenda, honor the spirit of the sanctuary city concept, commission member Diane Finnerty said they are intended to clarify what the city can and should do and what role the city should play in relation to federal regulations.

The recommendations, Finnerty said, will help “create a welcoming and safe community.” The commission is calling for clarification and education, not policy changes, she said.

The nine-member commission recommended following the example of Minneapolis and St. Pail, Minnesota, which have adopted policies clarifying the communication and enforcement relationship between city staff and the federal departments including Homeland Security with respect to enforcement of civil immigration laws.

Such a policy, according to the commission, would ensure city services are available to all residents on the basis of need without regard to immigration status. The policy would include a prohibition on using city resources to enforce federal immigration laws.

Police Chief Sam Hargadine welcomes the discussion, but hopes the council can avoid creating a “maze of rules and regulations” officers must navigate when dealing with crime victims, witnesses and suspects.

“If we're in a situation where we would reasonably ask for an ID, we're going to ask for it,” said Hargadine, who has met and discussed the issue with the rights commission. “I'm not in favor of rules and regulations that give an undocumented person more rights than others.”

“Reasonable” is the key in drafting rules, he said.

Finnerty expects there will be questions and resistance, but said the commission believes the recommendations are “implementable” without handicapping police or other city employees.

Regarding the commission's recommendation that police officers have more training in dealing with minorities, Hargadine questioned whether rights commissioners knew what training they currently receive.

Still, Hargadine believes there should be a discussion of the recommendations.

“We may step on some landmines, but we have to get the issues out there and discuss them,” the chief said. “That's the point of the commission and its recommendations – that the issues be brought to the forefront and discussed.”

The discussion may help determine the parameters of the situation, he said.

“We're not hearing these issues from the community … so we have to determine is this a real issue or an issue for advocates,” Hargadine said. “Sometimes we have more advocates than issues.”

According to the commission, members of the immigrant community have a “well-founded reluctance” to come forward with concerns about rights violations. So it recommended a standing immigrant review committee including members of the rights commissioner, city council, police review board and the immigrant community. It would serve as a “channel for anecdotal concerns to be shared by immigrant community and city leadership, since such a connection does not naturally occur in the current system.”

Other commission recommendations include:

• Clarifying the types of identification required to access city services and training employees of the unintended consequences of asking for a driver's license rather than a government-issued ID.
• Hold public forums on issues related to immigration and being a welcoming community.
• Increase access to city services by immigrant communities.
• Consider the city's relationship to Homeland Security, especially in regard to the Secure Communities program and anecdotal evidence that immigration status is asked when not relevant to a situation, such as a traffic stop or domestic violence.
• Increase police officer training and diversity within the department.