Public Safety Chief, Mike Butler, Sends Email Addressing Local Immigration Issue

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Part of tonight's City Council Agenda is a review of the city of Longmont’s policies and practices regarding the city’s undocumented immigrant community. Included in the City Council Communication is an email from Public Safety Chief, Mike Butler, that he sent to the Public Safety Staff reiterating "his expectations for how the Longmont Public Safety Department will interact with all members of the community and other law enforcement agencies".

You can read the entire email below:

From: Mike Butler

Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 7:40 AM

To: Public Safety Staff

Subject: Immigration Issue

Good Evening Everyone,

Thank you for what you do for our community! We have all worked hard over the years to not only make our community safe, but we've also assisted many people, families, neighborhood and businesses in developing their unique ways to sustain their own safety. Let there be no doubt that we have performed in a way that has contributed mightily in making our community one of the safest communities in Colorado and our nation.

You all are aware of the recent focus on immigration. I do not want to even get close to making this political commentary. My intentions are to let you all know how we will treat those people in our community who are immigrants and undocumented and/or overstayed their visas.

It is important for you to know that the acts of overstaying one's visa or coming into our country without any government authorization are civil/administrative violations of federal government regulations. They are not criminal acts. What is a criminal act is when someone has been deported from our country and then, without authorization, comes back into our country. That act is a federal crime. (The above information came from our District Attorney and our local FBI's office).

We have worked hard over the years to enhance our relationships with everyone who resides in our community notwithstanding their culture, their country of origin, their economic means or their immigration status. There is no doubt in my mind that our close relationships with people in our community is one of the reasons our community is as safe as it is and why we have as much trust and confidence as we do.

What is concerning to me and others is that there may be people, because of their immigration status, who choose to shrink back into the shadows of our community. They or their family members may become reluctant to report a crime or access public safety services in any way for fear of being deported. In doing so, they potentially make themselves more vulnerable to being victimized by crime or exploited by others who wish to prey on their vulnerability.

What ICE's practices become over the next few months are still unknown. I believe there has been a stirring of the pot by the media that has greatly contributed to the fear that currently exists. I am not hearing any federal agency or agent state that mass deportations will occur. However, regardless of what the source of fear might be, there are many people in our community who now fear deportation. What is concerning for me is that their fears may be unfounded but yet so real to certain people that they may be very reluctant to call on us. That is where each of us can make a difference.

I would like for each of you to let people you contact know that Longmont Public Safety is not interested, whatsoever, in any person's immigration status as we perform our assignments. We need to encourage people to reach out to us if they need any kind of public safety service. They need to know that we can be trusted and that our services are accessible to anyone, regardless of their status. That does not mean we cannot or will not use the full force of local and state ordinances and statutes to enforce our laws against anyone who commits a crime regardless of immigration status.

We will also not participate in the federal 287(g) program. This program trains local police officers on how to work with ICE in assisting in the deportation of undocumented immigrants. That would completely devastate our relationships and trust with those from within our Latino community. In addition, we are stretched too thin already in dealing with other public safety related issues in our community to add the responsibility of identifying and detaining those who are not documented. That does not mean we will not work with ICE. If ICE were to come to our community with the intentions of arresting a person or persons known to be a danger to our community, we will assist in their efforts to find and detain that person or persons.

In no way, shape or form do I want our public safety department to be at odds with any federal, or state or local enforcement agency. Historically, we have experienced the benefits of cooperating with all agencies from all levels and we will continue to do that.

In summing up my comments, our purpose is to provide public safety services to any resident of our community. Our purpose is to help ensure the safety of our community in any way that we can. That can be through prevention, being proactive and certainly by being responsive to the ongoing public safety issues that exist in our community. We need to sustain our purpose in our community as fiercely, skillfully and compassionately as we can.

You are welcome to contact me if you have questions, comments or concerns. Thank you. Mike

Source: City Council Communication. Note: if the link breaks, please visit today's agenda website and click on 5A. We hope to learn about why the City of Longmont's caching system is breaking links soon.