The Lansing City Council designated Lansing as a sanctuary city for immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission Monday evening, ending a weeks-long discussion on what role city employees should play when working with immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

It was a surprising outcome for many in the audience at Monday's Lansing City Council meeting, as the addition of the sanctuary city designation was added as an amendment from council member Jessica Yorko just prior to the vote.

That amendment passed, and the vote on the final resolution - which also reaffirmed Lansing's status as a "Welcoming City" and commended an executive order released just prior to the meeting by Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero - was unanimous.

"I'm really happy with how things worked out tonight," said council member Kathie Dunbar, who has been discussing the issue with residents and local organizations for months. "From the standpoint of protection, what we have done is a classic sanctuary city."

Sanctuary cities have become a hot-button topic throughout the country in recent months. President Donald Trump has long promised to crack down on sanctuary cities, signing an executive order in January that said jurisdictions with sanctuary city policies "willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States."

On March 27, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said law enforcement grants for state and local governments in the future could be contingent on whether the community cooperates with ICE officials and the Department of Homeland Security.

"I strongly urge our nation's states and cities and counties to consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to enforce our immigration laws and to rethink these policies," Sessions said at the time.

The executive order from Bernero did not designate Lansing as a sanctuary city, but codifies what Bernero told the council is current law enforcement practices for dealing with the immigration status of residents - including prohibiting Lansing police officers and city employees from asking about immigration status "except as required by federal or state statute or court decision."

The executive order does not limit communication with federal immigration authorities about a person's citizenship or immigration status, a statement from the mayor's office read. Bernero said he is confident the policies don't violate federal law, but "we are also prepared to take legal action to protect the prerogatives and powers of local government and local law enforcement."

"With the various immigrant and refugee-related controversies coming out of the Trump White House and from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, many in our community have raised questions," Bernero said in a statement. "I am issuing this executive order to empower our officers in these legal gray areas, while still protecting the interests of all Lansing residents."

On Monday evening, the council was considering for most of the night a draft of the resolution that did not specifically deal with law enforcement, or label the city as a sanctuary city.

Council president Patricia Spitzley expressed concerns that the council did not have express control to direct the police department directly, and council member Jody Washington said she believed Bernero was the right person to direct local law enforcement on directives moving forward, not the city council.

"I don't think anybody's done Lansing a favor by putting a big old spotlight on our backs," said Washington, who left the meeting prior to the final vote. "We had no problem...Lansing, Michigan is being punished for being an absolute forerunner for being a welcoming city."

Several immigration advocates came forward during the meeting and praised the mayor's executive order, but decried the resolution for not having any teeth to protect citizens.

That attitude changed for many upon passage of the amendment declaring Lansing a sanctuary city.

"To be honest I'm surprised - I didn't think it would happen," said Oscar Castaneda, who works with the Lansing community group Action of Greater Lansing. "I hope that it sets a higher bar for the United States of America."

Castaneda said he thinks the resolution and executive order were a success, but said the sanctuary city designation is only the beginning.

"Now that we've got it, we need to defend it," he said.

The provisions outlined in Bernero's executive order and endorsed by the city council are as follows: