Activists in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are demanding that local officials declare the city a “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants, MLive.com reported on Saturday.
The news comes as President Donald Trump, who was sworn in on Monday, is taking steps against so-called “sanctuary” cities and some Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have already arrested multiple criminal illegals.
Activists push for ‘sanctuary city’ status in Grand Rapids amid Trump’s deportation pledge https://t.co/uniWTu7xcx
— Grand Rapids Press (@GRPress) January 25, 2025
According to the MLive.com report, “A pro-immigration group is organizing a demonstration at the Tuesday, Jan. 28 Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to demand that commissioners put sanctuary protections in place and prohibit local police from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on deportation efforts.”
An online petition said adopting the status of “sanctuary city” would mean that it “Declares itself a sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, and; Commits to preventing the Grand Rapids Police Department from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and any law enforcement agency that seek to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants.”
On Monday, activists marched through downtown Grand Rapids to show their disagreement with Trump’s plan to begin mass deportations of illegals.
Video footage shows the group of about 100 demonstrating:
In extremely cold weather, at least 100 protesters are marching through downtown Grand Rapids calling for no deportations under the Trump administration.
— Byron Tollefson (@byron_tollefson) January 20, 2025
An organizer with Movimento Cosecha tells me they also want Grand Rapids to be declared a sanctuary city.@WOODTV pic.twitter.com/OPUM5wZwyG
The activist group is called GR Rapid Response to ICE, and its volunteer organizer Jeff Smith told MLive.com he wants local officials to push back against the Trump administration.
“(This is) a way of publicly letting the community know, ‘We object to the fact that the federal government using Immigration Customs Enforcement wants to arrest, detain and deport people just because they don’t have sufficient paperwork,'” he explained.
Monday’s march was organized by activists with the Movimiento Cosecha group and GR Rapid Response.
Despite the pushback, Trump on Monday told his deputies to draft rules denying taxpayer funds to “sanctuary” cities and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that support illegals, Breitbart News reported:
Among his long list of executive orders (EOs) was one entitled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” aimed squarely at sanctuary jurisdictions.
In section 17 of this EO, for instance, Trump sent a shot over the bow of “sanctuary jurisdictions” to warn them that they had better not interfere with legal federal law enforcement actions or risk losing federal dollars.
On the campaign trail last April, Trump promised during a news conference in Grand Rapids, “We will stop the plunder, rape, slaughter, and destruction of our American suburb cities and towns. We will end deadly sanctuary cities immediately.”
“I will shift massive portions of federal law enforcement to immigration enforcement and we will impose a naval blockade on the cartels, and we will hit the cartels very hard,” he added:
“We will END deadly sanctuary cities immediately.” — President Trump in Grand Rapids, Michigan pic.twitter.com/oO4cfMRX7x
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) April 2, 2024
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice recently directed prosecutors to investigate state and local officials who obstruct federal enforcement actions when it comes to immigration law, Breitbart News reported on Wednesday.
