‘It breaks my heart’: Facing public pressure, SLC officials are adamant about backing immigrants and not cooperating with ICE

There’s a rising sense of terror and loss of safety among Salt Lake City residents over federal immigration raids — and city leaders say they are keenly sympathetic.

Reaction to the shooting death in Minneapolis of Renee Good and to aggressive roundups across the country by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents brought a wide spectrum of opponents to City Hall last week, with scores of them urging city leaders and police officers to resist ICE enforcement however possible.

“It breaks my heart to think that so many of my neighbors should have to live in fear of the government of the United States, a country that was founded on diversity and freedom,” said 76-year-old resident Marvin Hamilton, a Vietnam veteran.

Hamilton and more than 100 other residents filled the Salt Lake City Council’s meeting hall and an overflow area Tuesday night to voice such fears and demand that the city refuse any voluntary cooperation with ICE. Many wore black in solidarity.

“Not everyone in our city has access to the same sense of safety,” said resident Audrey Carlyle, “and it is my and our civic responsibility to stand up and demand better. We cannot stand idly by while so many of our neighbors are profiled, terrorized and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

[Read more • SLC mayor tells warehouse owner a rumored ICE detention facility would be unlawful without changes.]

Dozens of speakers said they hoped the city would require judicial warrants for ICE to have access to any city information or resources; ensure no city funds, staffers or facilities be used by ICE agents; and require public reporting on all interactions with federal authorities.

“This city cannot be welcoming or a safe place for immigrants while it allows ICE to operate with impunity,” said resident Gabriela de Oliveira. “Now more than ever you need to stand not only with the immigrant community but stand with all of your constituents, because any attack on human rights is an attack on all of our human rights.”

Many also called for a formal resolution demanding ICE be abolished. And, for some residents, passive noncooperation is no longer enough.

For ICE’s part, a spokesperson said its agents are following new mandates from President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to step up enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.

“If you break the law, you will face the consequences,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”

‘Be creative’ in opposing ICE

So dire, in fact, is the menace from ICE, some say that the city needs to step into proactive defense, including deploying police in aid of immigrants and supportive activist groups — such as Armed Queers, West Side Brown Berets and Comunidades Unidas.

Joan Gregory, a granddaughter of Italian immigrants, told the council to “look for every single way that you can possibly do anything to protect our families, our neighbors, our friends.”

“Be transparent,” Gregory said. “Be creative.”

Residents also called for devoting city resources to vulnerable populations and immigration-advocacy groups as well as for informing residents how to protect their legal rights when interacting with ICE agents.

“ICE loses much of their power when they are confronted with citizens and residents who know their rights,” said Rose Park resident Ethan Meldrum. “I’m asking you to be courageous in the face of the federal government encroaching on our rights and harming our residents.”

What the city is already doing

Growing sentiment in opposition to ICE seems to be resonating loudly with key City Council members and Mayor Erin Mendenhall. At the same time, much of what ICE resistors are seeking, the city already is doing or exploring.

As new council leadership takes office, outgoing chair Chris Wharton noted the city is well positioned as the immigration issue presses into public view. The new council’s chair this year is Alejandro Puy, an immigrant from Argentina who represents the west side’s District 2. The panel’s vice chair is Erika Carlsen, who represents south-central District 5 and is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants.

Regarding immigration, Puy called the current council “the most progressive, forward-looking in the state, one that has the most protections for our communities.” He praised Mendenhall for “an administration that works tirelessly to protect our neighbors.”

“As a person of color with an accent and as an immigrant myself,” Puy said, “I don’t need to be lectured about these issues. I feel them myself.”

Mendenhall’s chief of staff, Rachel Otto, said the Salt Lake City Police Department “does not collaborate with ICE on immigration-related enforcement.” Nor does the city contribute, she said, any funding to such enforcement.

A key exception, Otto noted, might come in circumstances when city police share data with ICE on violent criminals they’re trying to apprehend who may also have issues with their immigration status.

The city is equally adamant, she said, in refusing to enter into so-called 287(g) agreements under federal law leading to formal collaboration between ICE authorities and city police.

“Salt Lake City,” she said, “doesn’t, hasn’t and will not enter into one of those agreements.”

Utah’s capital cherishes its status, recognized in 2024, as “a welcoming city to all immigrants,” Otto said. It has outreach programs helping immigrants along the path to permanent citizenship as well as others connecting new residents with services “they need to be able to live and thrive in Salt Lake City.”

“The city is doing everything we can to try to welcome residents from everywhere into the city and keep them safe,” she said, “and that won’t change.”

‘Keep showing up’

Puy said officials were willing to “dig in” to further understand city policies on ICE and immigration “and maybe find spaces where we can do better.”

“I encourage you to keep showing up,” he told ICE opponents, “and to keep making noise and advocating for our community.”

Puy also warned against moves that might overreach in city policy, in a way that might incur retaliation from federal authorities.

“There are also opportunities to lose the little ground we have — if we’re too careless,” he said. “What will happen if we put our finger in the eye of those that really have power over us as a city? On those questions, we can work together.”

Council member Eva Lopez Chavez, who is Latina, urged further action in distancing the city from ICE. She recalled an encounter when she was 7 years old and her mother was arrested in Twin Falls, Idaho, first by police, then by ICE agents.

“By a miracle,” Lopez Chavez said, “she fled detention, thanks to the good work of attorneys representing her.

“These are traumatic events that haunt me,” added Lopez Chavez, who represents the city’s downtown-centered District 4. Thousands of city residents yearning for leadership on immigration issues, she said, find none among Utah’s federal and state leaders.

“They look at us because we’re all they have left,” Lopez Chavez said. “We are the voices of our residents in our community in Salt Lake City. We have a moral obligation. We are the oath takers, and we are being asked to protect them.”