An influx of emails sent to city leaders sparked the Peekskill Common Council at the Monday, Jan. 12, meeting to consider a resolution on limiting city employee cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. If violated, those employees could be faced with potential disciplinary action.
The discussion comes on the heels of a fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal immigration agent on Jan. 7 and the continued push from local residents on transparency with city cooperation on immigration enforcement.
Via email, residents called for the creation of a “Peekskill for All” act, modeled after the Westchester County Immigration Protection Act, to help codify existing internal police department non-cooperation policies and extend them to include all municipal staff and resources.
City of Peekskill Mayor Vivian McKenzie thanked several residents in attendance for sending emails on the issue. The proposal was authored by resident Anne Jackley on Jan. 7 with input from several others.
“We want you to know that we took what you had to say to heart,” McKenzie said to attendees. “And this has been a really rough couple of weeks for what we’re seeing in our headlines.”
The resolution, which has not yet been drafted as of Jan. 12, aims to clearly state that law enforcement or city employees are prohibited from enforcing federal immigration policies, barring cases where a criminal warrant is signed by a judge.
Councilmembers are slated to discuss the drafted resolution on Jan. 20, then put it to a vote on Jan. 26, with many members already voicing their support.
City Manager Matthew Alexander said the city has already changed its policy to be in accord with the county Immigration Protection Act and noted a potential benefit of a resolution would be to highlight this existing policy.
“It was certainly very upsetting what happened in Minnesota,” Alexander said. “And for that reason, and more, the council might want to consider that and discuss whether or not it should highlight that action by passing a resolution in support of the changed policy that the police department has.”
Community members sitting in pews and attending virtually in gridded boxes gave thanks to leaders for taking a look at the issue and shared support for Peekskill for All. Among these were activists Anne Jackley and Dana Freedenfeld, who have pushed for a public policy, the Peekskill Democratic City Committee Chair Steve Kollias, and Westchester Alliance for Sustainable Solutions (WASS) founder Courtney Williams.
“I’m not naive, I know it won’t stop federal agents from executing judicial warrants here,” Jackley said. “But what it does do is disentangle local law enforcement from executing civil immigration efforts. So it will assure residents that it’s safe to interact with our local government on local issues and it should protect the police department from having to choose between enforcing civil immigration policy and doing their job to protect Peekskill.”
Newly appointed Chief of Police Adam Renwick, who was at the meeting, said officers do not conduct any immigration enforcement and advised residents to never hesitate to call the police.
“You are safe to come to us to report crimes to us,” Renwick said. “We want you to. We need you to. We are here for your safety. We are not interested in conducting and we do not conduct any type of immigration enforcement.”
Resident Angel Flores, who is a trustee on the Peekskill Board of Education, shared her support of the resolution but said a further step is needed.
“In terms of the Peekskill for All effort, a resolution is fantastic. Thank you,” Flores said. “We need a law. How enforceable can it be? A law isn’t a resolution. As we know from our current president, norms mean nothing. Resolutions mean nothing. Laws are what we need.”
Many speakers supporting Peekskill for All connected the call for a resolution to a call for justice for Damar Fields, a homeless man with emotional issues who was tased and beaten during a viral arrest on Dec. 3 and recently pled not guilty to charges on Jan. 8.
“What happened to Damar Fields right here in Peekskill was wrong. What happened to Renee Good in Minneapolis was wrong,” said WASS founder Williams. “And there is a direct line between police brutality, like we saw here in Peekskill, and what happened to Renee Good. You need to nip this in the bud now. Brutality by law enforcement is wrong, and we cannot capitulate in advance to authorities that are seeking to harm us.”
Chief Renwick addressed the police incident on Dec. 3, noting he is working closely with city labor counsel on the case.
“I just want to reiterate the importance of making sure that all correct steps are followed in this investigation,” Renwick said. “We don’t want to make any mistakes moving forward. We don’t want to rush the investigation for the case. And the promise that I made early in this investigation, a thorough and comprehensive investigation and proper accountability, has not changed.”
