City and county officials will discuss local policies related to federal immigration enforcement at a Kalamazoo event Tuesday.
The Kalamazoo County Democratic Party says it’s been hearing from anxious community members, unsure of how to respond to potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence. That's why they’re organizing a community conversation, featuring Kalamazoo County sheriff Rick Fuller, ACLU organizer Lily Eggers and Kalamazoo vice mayor Drew Duncan, who encouraged anyone concerned about ICE activity in the county to attend.
"I'm looking for people who are ready to stand up for their community, and I'm looking for people who love this city, this county, and their neighbors," he said. "So, for me, that's the floor of what I'm looking for as far as attendance. If they come to that room with that mindset, then we've got the right people in the room."
Fuller told WMUK, "I think you're going to hear from people that want to hear that their local officials will have some sort of armor that we can put up and they keep the ICE officials or the Border Patrol out," he said. "We can't."
Fuller, a Democrat, says his office has contact with ICE, but does not cooperate with 48-hour immigration detainers. Denouncing large-scale I.C.E. operations in other cities, he added:
"We make it very clear that when our partners are not acting in a way that we would expect them to, we tell them, 'We are not going to do that, and you know, if you're going to be doing that here, someone's going to be taking your video and it might even be law enforcement.'"
The Kalamazoo and Portage police chiefs were also invited to the public forum, but had prior engagements according to the event organizers, the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party.
The conversation will take place at the Crawlspace Comedy Theater in Kalamazoo at 6pm on Tuesday, Feb. 3. It's open to the public and admission is free.
