Anti-sanctuary city bill draws opposition from church, ACLU

Apr. 20—An American Civil Liberties Union representative, an official with the Roman Catholic Church and others urged an N.H. Senate committee Tuesday to reject a House-passed bill against so-called "sanctuary cities."

House Bill 1266 would prohibit state, county, municipal or judicial officials from adopting or following existing policies restricting enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Areas where officials limit cooperation with federal immigration officials are sometimes called sanctuary cities. Cheshire County, Harrisville and Dublin are among the locales where voters and officials have supported limits on such cooperation.

Also, in 2017, a resolution was adopted in Keene to "only cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol in a request to detain or to report an individual when required to do so by a federal, state or local law."

Restrictions on cooperation with federal immigration officials make it harder for these authorities to do important work, Rep. Tony Piemonte, R-Sandown, the prime sponsor of HB 1266, told the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel did not vote on the bill Tuesday.

"We have to protect our borders," he said. "There's no way of knowing who is coming in."

Piemonte said one example of appropriate cooperation would be honoring immigration detainers.

These are notices to local law enforcement to temporarily maintain custody of an undocumented person who has been arrested so that federal immigration can assume custody before this person is released.

This would likely apply to someone accused of a felony as opposed to someone who is a good member of the community but is in the country illegally, Piemonte said.

However, Gilles Bissonnette, legal director of the ACLU-NH, said the bill seems to apply broadly, essentially requiring localities to do whatever federal officials request on immigration matters.

He said immigration detainers are issued without a showing of probable cause that a crime has occurred and are sometimes issued in error, including cases involving U.S. citizens.

"In New Hampshire we don't require local police, local municipalities to do the bidding of the federal government," he said.

Bissonnette said the bill would also erode trust in law enforcement, making communities less safe.

"Undocumented individuals who are a victim of or a witness to a crime, or are even a confidential informant, would be less likely to cooperate or engage with local law enforcement," he said.

N.H. State Police Major Joseph Ebert testified that it's not clear how the measure would affect his agency's policies, including its Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, which seeks to prevent bias and discrimination while upholding human rights without regard to race or ethnicity.

"We worked very hard with lots of partners to come up with that policy," he said. "We're proud of it and we stand by it."

Bob Dunn, the director of public policy for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, testifying on behalf of Bishop Peter Libasci, also opposed HB 1266.

"I would ask you to keep in mind that the bill was offered as a way to improve public safety, but it wasn't offered by law enforcement," he said.

Dunn said law enforcement agencies, instead, would benefit from allowing them to further their efforts to improve dialogue with diverse groups.

Maggie Fogarty, N.H. program director with the American Friends Service Committee, a nonprofit that works against inequality and oppression, also testified against the bill.

"We find it completely unnecessary, confusing and vague," she said.

"We also believe laws like this promote animus and suspicion toward New Hampshire residents who are perceived to be immigrants and may encourage racial and ethnic profiling."

HB 1266 passed the full House, 172-162, on March 15, with Republicans generally in support and Democrats in opposition. The Senate Judiciary Committee will ultimately make a recommendation on whether the bill should be passed and the full Senate will vote on the measure.

Rick Green can be reached at RGreen@KeeneSentinel.com or 603-355-8567