COUNCIL MEETING DATE: Monday March 20, 207 ADDITIONAL CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED AFTER COUNCIL PACKET PREPARATION Item 6-. Sanctuary City Resolution DO NOT REMOVE Please return to, Administration
darwod@gmail.com Thursday, March 6, 207 2:28 PM citycouncil Official interactions with noncitizens Hello City Council Members: I was pleased to see that a proposed resolution declaring the City of Albany as a sanctuary city is on the agenda for the next council meeting. The resolution and the statement from the police department set forth in a general way the City's intentions to abide by federal law in its dealings with noncitizens. I congratulate all of you for taking this courageous and necessary stand. This is a very good first step. I do think that having specific rules set out in the Municipal Code will make good wishes turn into specific codes. A general statement does not give law enforcement concrete guidelines on which to base their actions. As I'm sure you all know, the ACLU has nine model codes to deal with this problem. I am sure you have read them yourself, but I want to review them briefly to emphasize why formal policies are necessary. First, the model codes require the city obtain a judicial warrant before detaining an individual at the request of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Having this requirement means that a judge of some kind will review the evidence supporting a request for detention, making sure that any such requests are based on specific factual circumstances, not someone's ideas or beliefs. The other rwles are similar in that they clearly set forth Albany's policies. They even have a statute that makes clear Albany's decisions on interacting with ICE and CBP clearly intends not to violate federal law, but rather to support it. If by any chance you do not have a copy of the ACLU's model statutes, I will be glad to provide them to you. Thank you very much for reading and considering this email. I hope to see you on the 20th. Sincerely, Jane Bond Moore 00 Portland Ave., #305 Albany, CA 94706 50.439.6634 Sent from Mail for Windows 0
Hannah Lennett <hannah.lennett@gmail.com> Monday, March 20, 207 9:3 AM City General Mailbox Account Sanctuary City Hello, I am an Albany resident and a student and am unable to attend the meeting tonight due to class, but wanted to share a story. A friend of mine is a public school teacher in San Francisco (a sanctuary city). When she found out on of her students was being abused at home, but was also undocumented, she was able to report the abuse without fear of her student being deported. Had she not been in a sanctuary city, she would have been faced with an impossible decision: risk the student being deported or risk her license as a teacher and mandatory, reporter. We cannot afford to put our children or our teachers in this position. I beg you to approve Albany's becoming a sanctuary city. Best, Hannah Lennett 040 Jackson St, Apt 3 Albany, CA 94706 207-754-3986
Susan Moffat <moffat.susan@gmail.com> Monday, March 20, 2070:52 AM citycouncil sanctuary city Dear City Council, I am writing in support of Albany being a sanctuary city. I would like all of our families to feel safe in our community, and I would like police to be able to focus on dealing with serious crime, not immigration issues. Thank you! Sincerely, Susan Moffat Albany Resident
Francesco Papalia <francescop@aol.com> Monday, March 20, 2072: PM City General Mailbox Account CC Agenda Item Sanctuary City March 20, 207 RE: Albany CA Sanctuary City Proclamation I believe Donald Trump is a con man. He deserves the same disrespect that he gave President Obama for 7 Y: years as Trump promoted the Birther Movement. That said, the Bay Area is a bubble of like mindedness that inhibits open conversation of controversial subjects where expressing a minority view risks becoming social outcast. Last year in Albany's 5th California Assembly District representing Richmond to North Oakland, Tony Thurmond, whom I supported, won with 88.8% against his Republican challenger. In the East San Francisco, West San Francisco and the Oakland /San Leandro Assembly Districts, the Democrats won 86%, 80%, 86% respectively against their Republican opponents. In Marin County, the winning Democratic candidate only received 69.7%, but that was because his opponent was also a Democrat who received the other 30.3% Currently Democrats form a two thirds supermajority in both the California Assembly and the State Senate and hold every statewide office. Donald Trump lost the national popular vote by over 2.8 million votes. Hillary Clinton won the California popular vote by 4.2 million votes. But, outside of California, Donald Trump won the popular vote by.4 million votes In your oath of office you swore to support and defend the Constitutions of the United States and the State of California without mental reservation of purpose of evasion. Where in those constitutions and in the Albany City Charter does it state that your role is to set immigration policy and US citizenship qualifications. I am concerned that by declaring the City of Albany as a sanctuary city you are widening the divide between red states and blue states, between urban and rural America between white collar and blue color workers. You are saying to jurisdictions all over America, you get to choose which federal laws you deem worthy of enforcing. Whether it is providing same-sex marriage licenses or enforcing federal gun-. control laws or anti-polygamy restrictions, you are promoting the idea that each city can do what they feel is best, regardless of the US Constitution. Our nation is becoming increasingly polarized as people move to areas where other people think just like themselves, because they feel more comfortable there. Americans increasingly choose news sources that only reinforce their previously held beliefs. If you really want to make a statement celebrating diversity and the welcoming of all backgrounds and nationalities, I suggest that you reach out and create a sister city relationship with another small town that has the opposite views than our generally held beliefs. Find an area that's rural not urban, where the tech world has not transformed their economy and where the jobs are based on farming, manufacturing, mining, or the military. Create a dialogue that promotes mutual respect and understanding of other viewpoints. Help us and them out of our bubbles of like mindedness. Find a rural town in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Wisconsin where they still need an economic recovery from our Great Recession. If logistically that is too difficult or too expensive, find a district in California, like Bakersfield where the Republican Assembly winner won by 75% to 25%. Discover how they feel about immigration policy and try to understand their daily struggle to build their Californian Dream. You cannot do that by proclamation, but it would teach our children a real and everlasting lesson in tolerance, compassion and understanding.
Finally, another option would be to adopt a refugee family that was brought to the United States under the Obama refugee program and make them apart of our Albany community. Please think Outside the Bubble. Respectfully Francesco Papalia l'. i 809 Key Route Blvd Ou\) 2
Sutlject: Attachments: Paula <paula.lifework@comcast.net> Wednesday, March 22, 207 2:44 PM citycouncil Re. SANCTUARY PROPOSAL Re. Sanctuary_Albany City Council.docx Re. Sanctuary, please see the attached letter to all City Council members. Thank you, Paula Wagner Albany City Council Members Paula Wagner, Albany resident (3 years) Re. Sanctuary, March 20, 207 City Council Meeting Date: March 22, 20 6 Thank you for your patient and thoughtful consideration of the Sanctuary proposal.at the Council meeting on March 7th. I especially appreciated the distinction between procedure versus policy and input versus dialog made by Council Member Nason. Although I did not speak, I strongly support the efforts of the ACA to put "teeth" in the Sanctuary policy by adding the language amendments proposed during the meeting. While most of the speakers were in favor of the proposal and amendments, I am concerned by the remarks of one speaker who worried that a Sanctuary policy might caus~ police or officials to "break federal laws," thereby making Albany a "rogue" city. How ma:ny other residents (not present at the meeting) might share these mistaken beliefs? In light of this, I urge you to address possible fears, confusion and the spreading of alternative facts by including language such as: In accord with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, Albany's Sanctuary policy is intended to protect all our residents from the unlawful use of local law eriforcement to carry out federal immigration policy. I also strongly urge you to follow San Francisco's courageous lead in adopting a No Muslim Ban Ordinance, either together with or separately from the Sanctuary proposal. As a Jong-time Albany resident, and as a US citizen born abroad, I appreciate you taking a strong stand to protect civil rights. Sanctuary is but one local step in protecting our residents. But it has historic significance as part of a growing national movement to affirm the values of diversity and tolerance in the face of the bigotry, fear and hate coming from the current Administration in Washington. Paula Wagner 7 Ordway Street Albany, CA 94706 These are historic times and this highly sensitive decision will not only protect Albany residents, but alert the administration in Washington in strong terms that we in Albany will stand up when the civil liberties of any of our diverse neighbors, documented or undocumented, are threatened. -- --~ ~~~~~