Council: Immigration enforcement is a police commission matter

LACONIA — City councilors rejected a resolution to recommended the police commission direct Chief Matt Canfield to apply for participation in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security program regarding immigration enforcement.

The 287 (g) program, administered by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, allows that agency to delegate immigration enforcement authorities to state and local agencies. 

Several departments in New Hampshire signed onto the program, including the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office and State Police.

Ward 5 Councilor Steven Bogert submitted the resolution for discussion and consideration at the council meeting Monday night. The council chambers were full, with members of the public present to represent their opinions on the resolution. Ultimately, it failed to garner even a minority of support from councilors.

Among those in attendance to express their thoughts was Patrick Wood, a former lawyer and civically-engaged resident of Laconia, who emphasized the importance of ensuring due process of law is followed at all times.

“This is part of a fundamental principle of our system of laws,” Wood said. “Everyone, everyone — not just citizens — everyone in the United States is entitled to due process. That’s our Constitution — the federal Constitution and the state Constitution — these ICE detainers or warrants do not provide due process. The federal law prohibiting guns in our schools makes that action a crime, prohibiting local law enforcement officers from enforcing federal crimes is a great deal more restricting than prohibiting local law enforcement officers from enforcing a non-criminal federal statute. In my opinion, this proposed resolution should mirror the provisions of [RSA] 159-E and prohibit our local law enforcement officers from doing anything to support the actions of the federal government that do not protect the due process rights of our citizens and our residents.”

Councilors Bruce Cheney (Ward 1) and Robert Soucy (Ward 2), both career law enforcement officers, abstained from the vote. Councilors Eric Hoffman (Ward 3), Mark Haynes (Ward 4) and Tony Felch (Ward 6) voted no, and Bogert signaled the lone affirmation. 

“I rise today not in opposition to law and order, but in defense of the values that truly make our communities strong: compassion, trust and justice,” resident and past Democratic political candidate Carlos Cardona said. “This resolution calling for formal cooperation with [ICE] through the 287 (g) program is not just a policy change, it’s a step towards fear, division and a breakdown in trust between our local law enforcement and the immigrant members of our community.”  

Soucy told councilors he was disappointed the resolution was brought before the council, noting his opinion that operations of the council should be nonpartisan in nature, and the police department works hard to uphold the law. 

“We try hard not to bring politics to the table, and that’s a disappointment, because I think that’s what’s best for the city — leave the politics out. No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, we try to stay in the middle and take care of our citizens,” Soucy said. “I was a police officer here in Laconia for many years. One of the things I can remember when I went through the police academy and after I came out, I had to take an oath of office. My oath was that I had to uphold the Constitution.

"All I believe in is the rule of law.” 

“We want to enforce the law, but if you read [the resolution], that’s asking us to get involved — the council — to start telling the police chief what to do,” Haynes said. “That’s against the ordinance, that’s against everything. The voters made it very clear that the police commission would run the police department, and the council and everyone else would stay out of it.”

Bogert responded to Haynes, noting the 287 (g) program does not instruct the police department to specifically do anything other than lend assistance to federal law enforcement when requested.

Cheney expressed similar unease regarding the resolution.

“I’m aware that our police department already works with border patrol and those other agencies routinely, what comes to mind is Motorcycle Week when there is actually fairly significant presence. I don’t want to see anybody in Laconia hauled off for their speaking out against something or whatever the other concerns were,” Cheney said. “At the same time, I don’t want us to say, 'You can’t do anything about enforcement in immigration matters,' and like Councilor Soucy suggested, our police officers have an obligation to enforce the law and assist other agencies in enforcing the law.”

Mayor Andrew Hosmer said the resolution was inappropriate and he did not support it, in the strongest possible terms.

“This resolution, it strikes me as particularly troubling on a number of levels. Not only because it reflects a lack of understanding of how our city government works — it smacks of a history, world history and history within this country, that should be troubling to all of us. It is to me,” Hosmer said. “It takes this council in a direction it never should have gone to.”

Jason Sproul, chair of the Laconia Democrats, similarly opposed the resolution, and referenced recent controversies surrounding the agency tasked with enforcing immigration law, noting grave mistakes have resulted in deportations to prisons in El Salvador, and holders of valid visas have also been deported, perhaps along partisan lines, for example.

“Councilor Bogert wants the taxpayers of our city to provide even more funding for this campaign of terror while our Republican representatives in Concord — like Rep. Bogert — cut services and raise our property taxes to fund their handouts to the ultra-wealthy and big business,” Sproul said. “This is not fiscal responsibility. I urge the council to vote against this proposal in the name of our Constitution and our moral values and get back to the business of helping all of our residents to get by and get ahead.”

The resolution presented Monday night was the second in three weeks which proved contested among councilors. 

At their meeting on March 24, a resolution submitted by Hoffman strongly objecting to the freezing of federal grant programs to states and municipalities and to agencies and organizations which support city residents passed narrowly, with Hosmer submitting the tie-breaking vote in its favor. 

In that instance, Cheney, Soucy and Bogert voted no, while Hoffman, Haynes and Felch voted yes. 

Hosmer drew a distinction between that resolution and the one relating to immigration enforcement before them on Monday night. 

“I always took particular pride in this city and in this council — that we’d left politics at the door. We focused on the needs of our citizens, the needs of our students, the needs of the most vulnerable. Taxes, budgeting,” Hosmer said.

“I find what’s going on right now isn’t about good governance, it’s not about public safety. We’ve gotten to the point now where this is purely in response to a resolution from two weeks ago which spoke out against the clawing-back of federal grants promised to municipalities like Laconia.”