CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – With a number of citizens registered to speak about ICE and related issues to the sweeping immigration enforcement efforts across the nation, Charlottesville Mayor Juandiego Made made a statement about the situation ahead of the public comment session at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“Charlottesville is a community that cares for one another,” Wade said, reading a statement he said was from the City Council. “We know the recent ICE actions and rhetoric in Minneapolis are alarming and impact many of us personally.
“We want to be clear; we do not tolerate any enforcement actions that are illegal or create fear or instability for Charlottesville residents. We also support efforts at the state level to protect civil rights of all residents and to strengthen privacy and access protection laws under Virginia. We are actively creating a resolution that reflects our values.”
“We will share that resolution publicly as soon as it is ready. We also honor that speaking out in peaceful protests are the core of an American healthy democracy, and we support residents who exercise those rights as part of civic life. In the meantime, we stand with the communities, agencies, organizations that work with those most at risk.”
“We will continue to use Council’s voice, partnership, and authority to foster trust, dignity, and a sense of belonging to all Charlottesville residents.”
The death of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman who was killed after being shot by an ICE agent, hit home for one speaker.
“I could’ve been Renee Good,” she said. “Murdered and maligned by the president and his cabinet not for doing anything wrong, but for being an activist in a blue city who didn’t vote for Trump.”
During an appearance Wednesday on WINA Morning News, councilor Lloyd Snook said the Council has been presented with three different variations of resolutions regarding to ICE.
“We’re going to have to do some balancing,” Snook said. “We want to be responsive to what folks are saying and frankly we want to be able to go on record as having very strong feelings about some of the stuff that’s going on in places like Minnesota, but also recognize that we’re a relatively small city in a Dillon rule state where we have very little authority to regulate some of the things folks want us to regulate.”
Under the Dillon rule, cities are limited in their authority outside of powers specifically granted by the state legislature.
