After Trump’s executive order on immigration, mayor declares Middletown a sanctuary city Drew won’t follow orders from ‘illegitimate president’

Middletown Mayor Dan Drew says police will not carry out the job of the U.S. government by enforcing federal immigration laws. Middletown Mayor Dan Drew says police will not carry out the job of the U.S. government by enforcing federal immigration laws. Photo: Cassandra Day — The Middletown Press Photo: Cassandra Day — The Middletown Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close After Trump’s executive order on immigration, mayor declares Middletown a sanctuary city 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

MIDDLETOWN >> Middletown has joined cities and states across the nation refusing to enforce federal immigration law, an issue moved to the forefront after the president’s executive order was put in force a week after he took office.

Although no formal designation exists for municipalities or other entities that consider themselves so-called sanctuaries, many states, such as California, New Mexico and Colorado, and Connecticut cities, such as New Haven, Manchester and Hartford, have codified, through an ordinance or other means, the practice of not honoring federal policies on immigration.

Mayor Dan Drew said he hasn’t — and doesn’t plan to — request an ordinance from the Common Council because it’s “really not necessary” since city police have not carried out that role — at least since 2011, when he first took office.

President Donald J. Trump’s order, which places sanctions on jurisdictions that “willfully violate federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States,” alleges these states and towns have caused “immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our Republic.”

It also says the executive branch must “ensure that jurisdictions that fail to comply with applicable federal law do not receive federal funds, except as mandated by law.”

“For the president to say he’ll punish any city around the country that doesn’t do the federal government’s job for it is a wildly inappropriate overreach of power,” Drew said. “We don’t see it as our job to have our police department enforce federal immigration laws and this issue is often confused by people.”

The mayor also takes issue with the phrase “sanctuary city.”

“It’s a pejorative term and it implies that a community is hiding people who are criminals and that’s not the case,” Drew said.

Citing the Bill of Rights, “States and cities are sovereign from the federal government in all areas except where the Constitution of the United States gives preeminence to the fed government,” Drew said. “State and municipal law enforcement is not one of these areas.

“President Trump is essentially telling the states of the country and the cities of the country that he’ll hurt them if they don’t do the job of the federal government for them. While this is moral issue about immigration, it’s also an issue about the vast overreach of the federal government. They have no business — legally or morally — coming in and ordering our police department to do anything,” Drew said.

That comes with a caveat, however. “If federal agents have a case they’re carrying out, whether it’s an immigration case, a bank robbery case, a kidnapping case or a murder case, and they come to Middletown and say they need to make an arrest or carry out a warrant ... and ask for an assist, even if it’s an immigration case, that’s a perfectly reasonable thing,” Drew said.

The mayor, a Democrat, said law enforcement will cooperate in those instances because the feds would be “asking for intra-agency cooperation.”

If the General Assembly were to pass a law that compels the state and its municipalities to enforce U.S. immigration policies, Middletown would be required to do so, said Drew.

Still, “We don’t just don’t take orders from the President of the United States. It won’t work that way. It’s a violation of the most basic tenets of American government,” he said. “This president is wildly overstepping his bounds. This is a pathetic, amateurish move on his part and I’m not going to violate somebody’s constitutional right and put the people of Middletown in jeopardy to follow an illegal order by an illegitimate president.”

Drew is echoing the words of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who on Jan. 14 declared Trump “not a legitimate president” following reports of Russia influencing the U.S. election by allegedly stealing emails from the DNC and helping to make them public.

Many say sanctuary cities risk the loss of federal funding by not abiding by Trump’s order.

Both Drew and Brig Smith, general counsel for the city, say they’re not clear on what funding Middletown could be in danger of losing. “I don’t think anyone knows,” Smith said.

Should it become necessary, Smith said there are a couple of bases the state and city could use to challenge Trump’s executive order under the Constitution: the Spending Clause and the Tenth Amendment.

“The Supreme Court gives Congress the power to spend money on grants to states but it requires, I think, the conditions be germane to the money being offered, unambiguous, and not be coercive. Those three things don’t appear to be here,” Smith said of Trump’s executive order.

The Tenth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees powers to the state that are not reserved for the U.S. government, Smith said.

“There’s a principle in constitutional law called anti-commandeering, which basically says the federal government can’t commandeer states to carry out its laws and, by extension, local government,” Smith said. “We’re creatures of the state.”

Izzi Greenberg is a member of the Middletown Refugee Resettlement Coalition, an all-volunteer effort formed about a year ago that arose in response to the crisis in Syria.

She said 30 community and civic organizations are represented in the group, which works with New Haven-based Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services in resettling refugees in Connecticut.

Members include the Community Foundation for Middlesex County, First Church, Church of the Holy Trinity, St. Vincent dePaul, Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek in Chester, churches in East Haddam and East Hampton and the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford.

The coalition arose from an informal group of residents who gathered in response to the crisis in Syria, Greenberg said. “They wanted to have a Middletown-based effort to resettle refugees in Middletown.” The city was chosen, as opposed to nearby rural communities, she said, because they felt it would be easier for families to acclimate in a place like Middletown.

The group welcomed a family from the Middle East in May, which, she said, is “now wholly integrated and (members) are full-fledged Middletown residents.”

The coalition was expecting another family this week but that effort was put on hold after Trump’s Jan. 27 immigration ban.

“Middletown has always been welcoming. Having this (informal) designation (of a sanctuary city) makes a lot of us feel better, but for people living here illegally, there is never a sense of security,” Greenberg said.

“No matter what anyone says about how safe (immigrants will) be, they never really feel safe. I guess it brings a small sense of relief.

“If this is one small way that our community can tell people they are wanted and welcome, then I am favor of that. Even philosophically telling people that is a step in the right direction,” Greenberg said.