So how about it Greenfield — do you feel “safer” today than you did yesterday?
As expected, the Greenfield City Council this week voted to approve a new safe city ordinance, which prevents city officials from in any way assisting federal efforts to round up and deport undocumented immigrants who might be living among us.
The vote codifies into law a policy that already is in place in the police department, which does not assist in federal deportation efforts and is not even allowed to ask the immigration status of people of foreign origin whom they may encounter on a daily basis.
The ordinance extends that policy to include all city officials, including the city clerk’s office, which compiles and keeps track of the community’s demographic data. So if, one day, federal agents came into City Hall looking for any information on suspected illegal immigrants in Greenfield, the ordinance would require that no such data be provided.
To many Greenfield residents, that’s perfectly fine. We heard from quite a few of them during the public comment portion of this week’s City Council meeting, which these days seems to more closely resemble performance art than an opportunity to dialogue with community leaders. That’s a big reason why some of these meetings routinely run three-plus hours, and why the councilors should seriously consider going to two meetings a month, if for no other reason than to preserve their own collective sanity.
This ordinance closely resembles one that the council considered but was unable to secure the votes to pass in 2017. A lot has happened since then, including the Trump Administration’s decision to establish a series of migrant labor camps along the southern border to house immigrants headed for eventual deportation.
The coverage of that story has been incredibly upsetting to a lot of people, even though some of it may not jive with what is actually happening there. The reportage of this particular issue has been so politically skewed that it’s become tough, at least for me, to know what is really going on without seeing it for myself.
For others, just the sight of kids in cages has been enough to demand action, including, I’m sure, some members of the City Council, which is a different body than the one that came up short of the votes needed last time. Dan Leonovich of Precinct 9 and John Lobik in Precinct 2, two of the council’s more conservative members, have resigned and have been replaced by Norm Hischfeld and Mark Berson, who both enthusiastically supported passage of the ordinance.
Berson was among the most vocal, at one point classifying the Trump Administration’s immigration policy as “silent murder,” which seemed a tad over the top even for him.
Though the ordinance passed with what appears to be a veto-proof majority, the vote was not unanimous. Councilors Isaac Mass, Brickett Allis and Wanda Pyfrom voted against the measure, but did so only after choosing their words very carefully.
Allis’ no vote was something of a surprise, and not just because he is running for mayor. During his comments, Allis disclosed that a member of his immediate family is undocumented, and expressed concern that Greenfield’s conversion into a “safe community” could lull undocumented workers into a false sense of security by making them believe they are somehow protected from ICE action because of this ordinance.
I’m sure there are others in town who share that concern, as well as the belief that laws, even unpopular ones, need to be obeyed, not flouted for political or ideological reasons. And there also may be a few who are worried that this ordinance could disqualify Greenfield for certain federal grants, although that so far hasn’t been an issue for other communities who have taken similar action.
I’m not sure people who hold those opinions are in the majority, but we may soon find out. Even before the vote, there were some, both in the room and on social media, who questioned whether this was a decision 13 people should be making. Whether it will be enough to trigger an effort to put it on the ballot remains an open question.
For now, assuming it doesn’t get vetoed, Greenfield has taken its strongest, and some would say, its most principled stand yet against a federal policy that has taken America down an ugly path from which it may have difficulty returning, regardless of what happens next November.
Chris Collins is a Greenfield native and has covered local and regional politics for over a quarter of a century. He can be reached at sourcechris.collins@gmail.com.