CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) - Officials in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are considering policies that would make their cities sanctuaries for illegal immigrants.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that the policies will likely be discussed at council meetings in January.

If approved, the policies would prohibit city employees, including police, from notifying federal authorities of illegal immigrants and from denying services based on immigration status.

Marlon Pierre-Antoine, a Haitian-American advocating the sanctuary policy in Cedar Rapids, says the working poor cannot get ahead under current immigration law.

In Iowa City, Mennonite pastor Karla Stoltzfus Detweiler says the policy is needed to allow illegal immigrants to become participants in the community and to allow them to feel safe from deportation when reporting crimes.

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