Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon joined nearly three dozen prosecutors and law enforcement leaders across the country today to challenge the Trump administration on its anti-sanctuary cities stance.
The Trump Administration is requiring jurisdictions to abandon policies aimed at building trust with their immigrant communities if they want to receive federal grant money to support their local law enforcement.
Specifically, they want jurisdictions to abandon policies that protect immigrants, like prohibiting inquiry into immigration status and protecting the confidentiality of victims and witnesses of crimes.
The State of California filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department, calling the requirement coercion to prioritize immigration enforcement over public safety.
Today, 35 prosecutors and law enforcement leaders across the country, including Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon, signed a brief in support of the lawsuit.
Siemon says Ingham County is a diverse community with not only undocumented immigrants, but immigrants who are here legally, like refugees and students. She says they are all impacted adversely by these practices that the Trump administration is recommending.
“There’s a chilling effect on people being willing to be witnesses or come forth as victims whether or not they’re legal, ” she says. That’s been a real challenge and we’re seeing that anecdotally here too on domestic violence cases and other cases where people are victimized. So as a prosecutor, and working with law enforcement, it’s really critical that we build that trust so people feel it’s safe to talk to the police and the prosecutor.”
Siemon says she and others who signed the brief hope it will lead to the granting of a temporary injunction.
