A coalition of community members and nonprofit advocacy groups are calling on Monroe County to join in local resistance to the federal immigration enforcement crackdown.
The "Protect Our Neighbors" campaign launched Tuesday in a response to increase immigration activity in the region and nationally. Organizers rallied on the steps of the Monroe County Office Building, led by representatives of Metro Justice, a grassroots organization dedicated to social, economic, and racial justice in Rochester.
"We may not obstruct federal enforcement, but that doesn't mean we cannot take every single opportunity to make it clear that their work of fear has no place here," said Metro Justice President Luis Torres.
The groups, also including RocDSA, are calling on the county Legislature to legally limit its support for federal immigration enforcement. Among their demands are prohibiting informal cooperation between the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and federal immigration authorities and prohibiting organizations that receive county funding from entering into contracts with ICE or U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The sheriffs current policy restricts deputies' involvement with federal immigration authorities and expressly states that the department does not get involved in civil immigration enforcement.
Total ICE arrests across upstate topped 600 in July, as recent months have brought a surge of enforcement — doubling arrest totals with four of every five cases involving people with no criminal history.
