CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio – Cleveland Heights’ Immigration Task Force adjourned its final meeting on Thursday night without having voted on legislation about what role police and other city employees should have in federal immigration enforcement.

Instead, the nine task force members were told that the city’s legal department had some unspecified concerns about the proposal’s “potential liability.”

The three-page proposal says, among other things, that city officials will require “a judicial warrant or probable cause of a criminal act” before arresting or detaining someone at the request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection.

It also says city officials will not interrogate, arrest, detain, or transport anyone because of their perceived race, national origin, religion, language or immigration status, or “solely on the basis of an immigration detainer or other administrative document” issued by ICE or CBP, without a judicial warrant or probable cause of a criminal act.

Also, unless under a court order or other law enforcement purpose “other than the enforcement of a civil immigration law," no city officials will give ICE or CBP access to city facilities or anyone in city custody.

In addition, ICE and CBP agents are required to wear “duty jackets or other similarly identifying apparel or wearable signage and make their badges visible at all times” while in city facilities, that city officials will not ask about a person’s immigration or citizenship status except for legitimate law enforcement reasons other than immigration enforcement, or to verify eligible for employment. No city officials can release personal data to ICE or CBP except for law enforcement purposes other than enforcement of civil immigration laws, the proposal says.

“The Law Department suggests that we send the revised ordinance back to City Council, because the Law Department would like to have a discussion with Council that they believe should be discussed confidentially,” said Carol Roe, mayor and City Council president. “It’s hard to go into any more detail.”

Law Director L. James Juliano Jr. declined a request to provide more details about the “confidential legal advice” he was providing to city officials.

Kahlil Seren, the City Council member who had initially proposed the legislation in response to what he called “racist and xenophobic” federal immigration policies and enforcement practices, said he and others had come to the meeting expecting to approve a final version of the proposal to send to the council.

“If our local people are engaging in civil immigration enforcement, that could turn into a deportation,” he said.

The recommendation from the Immigration Task Force was supposed to have been the result of nearly four months of biweekly meetings. The task force meetings were recorded and posted to the city’s YouTube channel.

Seren said he was disappointed at “suddenly having all of this completely devalued” because of potential liability. “The potential of something to happen is not the likelihood of something happening,” he said.

Robin Koslen, one of three residents on the task force, agreed, saying the committee should express its disappointment to the City Council and the law department.”

The City Council created the Immigration Task Force in April, in the wake of a City Council decision designating Cleveland Heights as a “Welcoming City,” a symbolic gesture meant to express the city’s strong objection to the president’s executive orders on immigration.

City Council members preferred the term “Welcoming City” over “Sanctuary City” because President Trump said had threatened to pull federal funding from sanctuary cities, saying in August 2016 that “cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars.”

Separate from the proposed legislation, Police Chief Annette Mecklenburg wrote a bias-free policing policy, and Human Resources Director Anna Smith had created a similar policy for other city employees.

When Detective Greg Jakomin asked about the consequences officers could face for not complying with orders from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, task force member and immigration lawyer Michael Sharon said that as long as there was probable cause and judicial warrants, “you’re about as safe as you can be.” The proposed legislation is not intended to violate Ohio public records laws, or state or federal laws.

If city employees have any questions about a request from ICE or Customs and Border Patrol, they could consult the city’s law department, he said.

Mecklenburg said: “This is new and unfamiliar territory for a lot of city employees. We’re talking about what if’s.”