A move by local governments to declare themselves "welcoming cities" brought both praise and condemnation recently by groups who believe it takes a stance on illegal immigration.
The Welcoming Community initiative does not require, or even ask, a town to address immigration law, said both supporters and spokesmen for the two participating cities in the region: Fayetteville and Springdale. Spokesmen for both cities said they received explicit assurances participation would not step on a slippery slope to "sanctuary city" status.
Fayetteville's and Springdale's participation is being cited by a pro-immigrant group as a reason the Washington County Sheriff's Office should drop a long-standing policy. The sheriff's office holds jailed immigrants who are not in the country legally and notifies federal immigration authorities.
Welcoming Community organizers and participants said both sides are wrong.
The nonprofit EngageNWA, a Northwest Arkansas partnership that aims at improving the region's quality of life, promotes the program. Welcoming Community's goals are cultural and social, not legal, said Terry Bankston, EngageNWA director. The initiative is as much about Northwest Arkansas imparting its culture to new residents as it is enriching the local culture with contributions from new arrivals, he said.
"I moved here from Ohio. There are things a community can do to make people feel more welcome when they move here" from anywhere, Bankston said.
Welcoming Communities are cities, counties and nonprofit groups that voluntarily abide by a set of guidelines set up by an umbrella group called Welcoming America. The guidelines include actions that make it easier to navigate city services, such as getting around city websites or knowing what city codes are.
The Welcoming America website says the organization "leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by making everyone feel like they belong. We believe that all people, including immigrants, should be valued contributors and are vital to the success of both our communities and our shared future." It also asks members to support cultural and social events where everyone would feel welcome and recent arrivals from other cultures would be encouraged to participate.
"If you sit down and read what they ask you to do, a lot of it was things we're doing already," said Mayor Doug Sprouse of Springdale.
"Over one-third of the people living in the city are not from around here," Sprouse said, so the city found the suggestions useful. "I wasn't going to do anything that would have this city going down the path of becoming a sanctuary city or anything like that."
Sanctuary cities are deliberately lax in enforcing immigration law and uncooperative with federal agencies that do. San Antonio, Dallas and Austin, Texas, are in court seeking to overturn laws passed by the Texas legislature to discourage such cities. President Donald Trump has threatened federal action, such as withdrawing federal funds.
"Nothing I signed says anything about that, and I asked about it, too," Sprouse said. He received assurances from both EngageNWA and Welcoming America, he said.
Fayetteville has the same understanding as Sprouse from EngageNWA and Welcome America representatives, said city spokeswoman Susan Norton.
"They were very clear that this is totally neutral about that," she said of the initiative and immigration law. "People who have asked us about it have equated one with the other, but that is not the case."
Yet local attorney Stephen Coger -- a co-organizer of the "Don't Deport Dad" rally, news conference and gospel show held Saturday in Fayetteville -- cited local participation as a sign the cities don't support enforcement of immigration laws.
The Arkansas Justice Collective, a nonprofit group that advocates for immigrants, the poor and minorities organized the event, which was attended by about 75 people. Also cooperating in the rally was Ozarks Indivisible, a group that opposes many of the policies of the current president, including his immigration policies.
The rally protested the practice of the Washington County Sheriff's Office, under Sheriff Tim Helder, of notifying the federal Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement when an immigrant in the country illegally is taken into custody, whatever the charge.
"Anyone who visits the Washington County Jail and is an immigrant or a refugee is endangered by the ICE detainer programs," Coger said in a statement issued before the rally. "Sheriff Helder will hold folks on ICE detainers if they are detained on any charge," the statement said.
"Fayetteville and Springdale have declared themselves Welcoming Communities, and yet Tim is not on board," the statement continued.
The group wants Helder to only hold an immigrant if the federal agency has an outstanding warrant for his arrest on immigration charges.
The statement cited court rulings in Texas, including one earlier this month. In the latest case, local authorities held a prisoner for Immigration Enforcement after the local charges he was arrested on were dropped. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio ruled the continued detention of the man was unconstitutional, amounting to being arrested without a warrant.
Coger said he believes city councils and county quorum courts should speak up. A community cannot be truly welcoming yet willing to see some members held for deportation by local authorities on legal grounds that have been declared unconstitutional, he said.
Helder disagreed.
"What they want is for me to turn the blind eye to a law on the books," the sheriff said. "That makes no sense to any law enforcement officer, and I've been one for 38 years. I have an obligation."
Helder and Coger said they aren't aware of any similar ruling from a court with jurisdiction in Arkansas.
Helder added he doesn't know of a case in the county's jail in which a prisoner would have been eligible for release by posting a bond or having a charge dropped but was held only because of his immigration status.
"They have to be in the jail before we even begin to determine their immigration status, so they are there for a felony or misdemeanor already," Helder said.
The sheriff's office no longer participates in a program that trained local officers to enforce federal immigration laws, he said, but it kept the practice in which prisoners are screened for immigration status if there is reason to believe they may be in the country illegally.
"We've had this policy for 10 years, and it hasn't been this much of an issue before, never," Helder said. "So why now? I think it has to do with Trump's election and his policies on immigration. It has the people opposed to this all fired up."
Commentary on 06/18/2017