The Columbus City Council plans to enact into law Mayor Andrew J. Ginther's executive order that prohibits arresting or denying public services to immigrants in the city based on their immigration status.

It does not designate Columbus as a "sanctuary city," as some other cities have done.

"Now isn't the time to focus on labels, especially when that focus could unnecessarily and unfairly target and harm families and children in our community," council President Zach Klein said in announcing the proposed ordinance Thursday at a public hearing about the city's policies on immigrants and refugees.

"Instead, now is the time to double down on policies that unequivocally show that we stand with our immigrant and refugee friends."

The council expects to introduce the proposal on May 22 and could approve it as soon as June 5.

It would make permanent in city law the executive order that Ginther issued in February that prohibits using city money, equipment or personnel solely to find and apprehend people based on their suspected immigration status, unless such actions are taken in response to a court order. It also would bar the city from denying access to services based on immigration status.

"It puts in concrete, in city code, exactly where our values are," Klein said.

The mayor's executive order and the proposed ordinance are responses by the city's elected leaders to President Donald Trump's executive orders involving immigrants and refugees. His most recent order, which has been temporarily blocked by federal courts, would prohibit citizens of six majority-Muslim countries from obtaining new visas. The order also would suspend the U.S. resettlement program for 120 days and cut the annual number of refugee admissions for fiscal year 2017 to 50,000 from the originally scheduled 110,000.

Ginther's order and the council proposal resemble the actions that sanctuary cities take to not cooperate with federal authorities to detain people based on their immigration status. But unlike Cincinnati and other cities that have designated themselves sanctuary cities, the Columbus proposal doesn't use the sanctuary label.

That's fine, said Joseph Mas, legal counsel for the Ohio Hispanic Coalition.

"Of less importance is the declaration. Of more importance is the action," said Mas, who was among eight people who spoke in support of the proposal.

"I agree," said Andrew Martinez, chairman of the People's Network, which works on immigration and other issues. "The traditional label of sanctuary isn't important; it's more the policies."

"I think the label of sanctuary city would put a target on us," said Ken Ramos, a retired Columbus police officer who is active with the Ohio Hispanic Coalition. "We don't need the label. We know we are a welcoming city."

Others from the Somali, Cambodian, and Bhutanese Nepali communities also praised city leaders for pushing policies to help immigrants and refugees.

No organized opposition has emerged to the Columbus proposal.

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel and state Rep. Candice Keller of Middletown, both Republicans, have proposed a state law to ban sanctuary cities and to hold local officials in such cities criminally and civilly liable for crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

"It is unconstitutional and an absolutely ludicrous piece of legislation," Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown said at the hearing. "We hope that cooler heads will prevail in the Ohio legislature and that the governor would not sign something like that."

City leaders also plan to work with Ohio State University's College of Social Work to analyze what gaps exist in local social-service networks and how they could be filled to best help new Americans, including immigrants and refugees. The work is to cost about $40,000 and probably will be completed this year.

mlane@dispatch.com

@MaryBethLane1