The Lawrence, Kansas, City Commission is discussing a proposal that would make the city a sanctuary city and limit how police cooperate with federal immigration agents. During a meeting Tuesday, the commission expressed support for the Police Department’s proposed draft ordinance that would officially make Lawrence a sanctuary city.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports a local group proposed last year that Lawrence become a sanctuary city, and that police refuse to enforce requests from immigration agents unless they involve a crime. Police Chief Gregory Burns says a draft policy for the department says police will not help hold a person based only on whether that person has a federal immigration detainer. He noted that this is already the policy in his department.

“I appreciated you saying that you were already doing a lot of this, but just the act of clarifying it for the public, I think, is really important for engagement and everyone knowing what their rights are,” Commissioner Courtney Shipley said.

Lawrence became a “welcoming city” three years ago, and now city officials have worked with a group called the Sanctuary Alliance on the proposal to become a “sanctuary city.”

Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday gave a speech at the Major County Sheriffs of America Winter Conference in Washington, D.C., where he criticized sanctuary cities for resisting the federal government’s efforts to “carry out effective law enforcement.” He said those jurisdictions “believe it is more important to help criminal aliens evade the law than it is to protect the safety of law-abiding individuals.”

–Metro Voice News