Lansing’s Latino community fearful as ICE tactics escalates

(This story has been updated to correct an editing error. An earlier version referred to state Rep. Emily Dievendorf by the wrong pronoun. City Pulse apologizes for the error.)

WEDNESDAY, May 7 — “Not even a school or a hospital is safe at this point,” Dora Moran told a room of Lansing-area Latino advocates fearful about the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Moran, of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, pointed to tactical changes by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers:

Formerly protected areas are “open ground.” Cracking open the front door is being construed as “authorization” to enter. And the “really big trick” is presenting administrative warrants in place of legally binding judicial warrants.

The presentation came as the administration has dialed up its immigration enforcement and cracked down on so-called “sanctuary cities,” local jurisdictions which limit cooperation with ICE. On April 28, Trump ordered that a list be made of “jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws,” which would have “appropriate federal funds” endangered.

Despite having some such policies, Lansing officials said they are unworried about retaliation against the city government from the Trump administration.

“Lansing is not a sanctuary city and does not consider itself one,” Mayor Andy Schor told City Pulse Friday in a written statement. “We have no reason to believe we will lose any federal funding because we have no rules, policies or ordinances that require, encourage, or support subverting federal immigration enforcement in any way.”

The City Council did declare Lansing a “sanctuary city” briefly in 2017 during the first Trump administration, when he threatened to stop federal funds to such communities. Pressure from the public caused the Council to reverse itself in a move that garnered national media attention.

The resolution and its undoing followed a executive order by then Mayor Virg Bernero that, among other things, ordered police not to inquire about people’s immigration status unless legally required to.

The order remains in effect, and Schor has stood by it.

It is unclear, though, where Lansing stands on cooperating with ICE, given its current tactics. Asked what security would be instructed to do if ICE agents attempted an arrest at City Hall, Schor said Monday they would be allowed in “with a signed warrant” to arrest someone who “is detained and in our jail.”

But under the Trump administration, ICE has detained more than incarcerated criminals with judicial warrants for their arrest.

City Pulse asked Schor yesterday whether ICE would be allowed in City Hall to arrest an undocumented immigrant with no criminal record, or if ICE would be allowed in with an administrative warrant.

His spokesperson, John Bean, said he would try to get an answer from the mayor — but he added, “I may also need further guidance from the City Attorney’s Office on this.” There has been no further response.

The law is not the issue anymore, said local Latino activist Lorenzo Lopez.

“What can be done technically, under the law — that no longer exists in this country,” Lopez said. “There is no due process, there is no rule of law. We’re living in a new era.”

“There is great fear, and not only among undocumented people,” he added. “It’s going into our own communities.”

Lopez was among those who attended yesterday's monthly meeting of mid-Michigan’s chapter of LLEAD — Latino Leaders for the Enhancement of Advocacy and Development — at Cristo Rey Church in southwest Lansing.

LLEAD board member Juan Marinez said ICE had detained people who were in the U.S. on legal work contracts.

“ICE is picking people up regardless,” he said. “They look Mexican, so they get picked up even though they’re here legally.”

In 2023, East Lansing formally declared itself a “sanctuary city” in a 3-1 vote. Despite this, City Council member Mark Meadows said he is “really not too worried” about federal retaliation.

“Our resolution says that we would cooperate according to law,” he said. “The federal statute regarding this specifically indicates that local government is not required to assist. I don’t know where Trump is getting his advice, but he’s dead wrong on what he can do here.”

Bernero said his 2017 order was not intended to make Lansing a sanctuary city, but to “strike a balance” between cooperation with ICE and preserving city resources.

“We’re not an extension of ICE,” he said. He said the city’s unwillingness to hold undocumented non-felons for ICE was because “we can’t afford to do that, we don’t have the jail space.”

East Lansing’s current mayor, George Brookover, the sole dissenter on the sanctuary city vote, declined to comment for this article.

A bill that would ban sanctuary cities passed the Michigan House of Representatives last week, but state Rep. Emily Dievendorf, D-Lansing, said in a statement it was unlikely to become law.

Dievendorf also does not believe Lansing would run afoul of the bill. The 2017 order “doesn’t interfere with federal immigration enforcement, it simply ensures officers stay focused on keeping our community safe,” Dievendorf said.

Lansing City Councilmember Trini Pehlivanoglu said the executive order “does toe the line” but prohibits obstructing federal agents.

“It’s close to what would be considered a sanctuary city,” she said. “But we’re not obstructing the work of another agency. Everyone recognizes that federal agents have authority over all those ranked below them. We’re not going to go alone and do this work, but we are not going to interfere, obstruct or hide when those agents are in the community.”

But with the federal administration eschewing precedent, will technicalities save Lansing and East Lansing? Some Lansing City Council candidates said that uncertainty did not impact their commitment to the 2017 order.

At-large candidate Olivia Vaden called the Trump administration’s order “a shakedown” and said altering current practices “does not protect us from the Trump administration’s next threat.”

“Next will be cities with offices of sustainability and Pride flags flying at City Hall in June,” she said.

Meanwhile, 4th Ward candidate Heath Lowry said uncertainty in federal funding has been a constant since Trump took office and should not be used to justify premature compliance.

“The volatility will go on regardless, so it’s hard to see that as a great deterrent,” he said.