As a proposed policy limiting the city’s cooperation with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency gains momentum in the City of Peekskill, several residents are calling not just for a public policy but a local law or ordinance.
Among that chorus of voices at the Common Council virtual meeting on Monday, Jan. 26, was resident Nathan Couchon, who said there needed to be legislation that was fully binding, enforceable in court, and not easily mutable.
“We absolutely must move from a resolution to a law,” Couchon said. “What we’re seeing in Minneapolis and across the country is horrifying, and I think we’re kidding ourselves if we think that it’s not going to reach us. And the best thing we can do is to be fully prepared, and the way to do that is with a law.”
The resolution under consideration would adopt a policy stating the Peekskill Police Department and other city departments cannot use resources to assist in federal immigration enforcement. It follows a continued push from local residents on a public policy and aims to foster trust and cooperation among local government, local law enforcement, and the community.
Such a policy already exists within the police department, but the resolution would further codify it and extend it to other departments.
City employees who violate the proposed policy would be subject to an investigation to determine if any discipline or other action is required. Citizens would also be able to report any alleged violations through a civilian complaint form with the police department or with the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
For the full text of the proposed policy on immigration enforcement and discrimination, click here.
City Attorney Eric Gordon said that the city considered the request for a local law very carefully but determined the adoption instead of a policy, which would be applicable to all city personnel, was the appropriate way to proceed. He added there are provisions in it that are no different than if it were a local law.
“A local law typically applies to the general public; this is a policy that applies to city personnel,” Gordon said. “City policies are enforceable. Personnel can be disciplined. They can be even terminated if it’s such an egregious violation of that policy.” He later added, “We wouldn’t adopt a law that creates a fine for city personnel. That wouldn’t be an appropriate way of enforcing this policy.”
While the Village of Ossining, Village of Irvington, and Town of Pound Ridge have adopted similar policies, City Manager Matthew Alexander said he was not aware of any municipalities in New York that have passed a local law, but would be interested in examining any existing legislation presented to him by supporters of the law.
In addition to Nathan Couchon, others at the meeting also urged the city to lead by example by going beyond adopting a policy to create a local law. Advocates pressing for a law include resident Evan Rosen, former Councilman Ramon Fernandez and Mary Angel Flores, a trustee on the Peekskill Board of Education.
Rosen said he believed the resolution did not go far enough because it was based on a law, the Westchester County Immigration Protection Act, that was written in 2018, which he described as a kinder and gentler era.
“It was a more innocent time,” Rosen said. “In 2018, ICE was not regularly murdering innocent citizens in the street on a weekly basis. In 2018, we did not have a fully corrupt Federal Department of Justice that refuses to investigate these human rights violations. We also did not have six conservative Supreme Court justices. We can’t afford to live in the past when the present is far, far, far more dangerous.”
Flores echoed the sentiment that it is an unprecedented time and referenced the arrest of a mother and her four-year-old son from their home in Peekskill by Homeland Security Investigations agents in 2025.
“My 10-year-old… has shared with me that he knows that some of his classmates are now gone and he knows why they’re gone,” Flores said. “Family members from across the country [sent] me videos of the mother and her son who were abducted by ICE last year [saying], ‘Can you believe this?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, I can, because that happened minutes from my house.’”
One resident, Rebekah Morris, took the call for a local law affecting city employees a step further by saying the city should have a law prohibiting residents from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I have not looked into a law that applies to citizens, to make them refuse to cooperate with ICE,” City Attorney Gordon said. “That’s a completely different ball of wax. And I don’t believe the city has the authority to do that. No other municipality in the country has adopted that type of law.”
The Peekskill Common Council aims to vote on a resolution on Feb. 9 that would set a Feb. 23 public hearing on the policy. Council members would then decide whether to vote that night on a resolution approving the policy.
