City councilors are considering making Winooski a sanctuary city.
The Onion City would put on paper its practice of not asking residents about immigration status while “providing municipal services or in the course of law enforcement,” according to a city council resolution. The resolution describes the city as Vermont’s “most diverse community.”
Councilors on Monday evening will discuss and possibly vote on the resolution, which would set in motion the research and development of specific policy, Mayor Seth Leonard said.
“We’ve had reports of folks having fear and not feeling like they can move around the community freely, and unfortunately, that’s a byproduct of the rhetoric on the national level,” Leonard told Seven Days. “We’ve got enough local issues, so this is a practical way of saying we’re not the immigration police and it’s not something we’re going to be concerned with as we provide municipal services.”
Such a policy is already in place, but Leonard said the official designation would allow the city to codify the practice. Burlington officials made a similar argument last week when Mayor Miro Weinberger announced the city’s intention to seek the designation.
Leonard said that about 13 percent of Winooski’s 7,500 residents are foreign-born; about the same percentage speak a language other than English at home. Most are legal immigrants and many are refugees who resettled in the city. Leonard said that his office has received several calls and emails from advocates for immigrant groups who spoke of concerns after Donald Trump was elected president.
The president-elect has spoken about punishing sanctuary cities by withholding federal funding. Leonard said the city could lose out on certain grants from the Department of Justice. The council is expected to review estimates of the financial implications during Monday’s meeting.
Winooski officials have considered the sanctuary city designation for some time, Leonard said. As a destination for refugee resettlement, the city has long worked to welcome people of all backgrounds, he added.
“We’ve taken a number of steps previously that have made clear we really value diversity here in Winooski,” Leonard said. “It’s not something we just allow but something we value and treasure and think is an important part of our community.”
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I hope the Trump administration withholds all federal money to these sanctuary cities. Where on earth do these local officials get the idea that they are,above federal laws. I hope the citizens of these cities see the writing on the wall and vote these law breaking leaders out of office before their actions leave the communitit’s they are supposed to represent into waste lands. Illegal immigrants should feel unsafe moving around the communitit’s they have snuck into after all they are breaking the law and they know it. Come here legally and you will be welcome with open arms, come here illegaly and your arms should be put on cuffs and you should go back where you came from. Why should people that break laws be put before those that follow the rules?
Agree with you 100% “Citizen” these sanctuary cities will lose the Federal money and guess what, then they will up the taxes to cover the money lost..I know a lot of people who have moved out of Winooski because taxes went up so much to pay for these refugees..They sold their homes cuz they couldn’t afford the taxes anymore..Now if we Americans broke any laws our butts would be thrown in jail ..But that the way liberals want it..protect the illegals and be damn the law abiding citizens..
When the illegal immigrants move to the “sanctuary” of Winooski, they can all be given apartments in the luxury condo complexes down by the river.
I don’t believe the safety and security of Vermont immigrants are solely the responsibility of Burlington or Winooski and I don’t think the residents of these communities should bear the entire financial burden if/when Federal funds a withheld.
I am hoping there is a mechanism developed by the VT Legislature where people,myself included, are able to donate to a fund that would support any city in Vermont willing to become a sanctuary city.
Almost sounds like Winooski is going to be re-introducing their ill-fated “bubble” plan from the 1970’s. 🙂 I think that’s where Saturday Night Live got the idea this past weekend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKOb-kmOgp…
PS: Seth Leonard, you are a good guy and mayor but please recognize there is a big difference between legal immigrants (including refugees) and illegal aliens. Almost all of Winooski’s immigrants are legal refugees who were already vetted by the US government before admission. Trump is no threat to Winooski’s legal immigrant community. But if you want to give up federal funding for some political stunt, go for it.
Reply to “Citizen”: Because the city administrators cater to the taxpayers who are liberal elite from NY, NJ & MA. They spew forth minority programs to compensate for their white guilt and punish real native Vermonters who cannot find a job by giving them nothing citing their “white privilege”. They celebrate diversity and insist on luring gang bangers from Springfield and Hartford to take advantage of Vermont’s great social programs at taxpayers expense. Meanwhile Somali’s live in Larkin’s luxury condos, are given priority in finding great jobs at UVM, and are handed business like turnkey taxicab companies. The downtrodden “French-Canadian American” Vermonters live in squalor in substandard housing while the liberal elitists buy $20 vegetarian sandwiches at Stone Soup and live in McMansions in Shelburne. Sound about right or did I miss some points?
Robert I believe the Somali population are,all legal immigrants so there is not much anyone can do about them. The legal immigrants that come here like the Somali boys should get a little help till they get their feet under them such as help with education cost, but after that they should be responsible for them selves just like the rest of us. When it comes to illegal immigrants you have hit the nail on the head.
Bertrand is certainly right about the guilty rich white liberals who run Vermont. They’re guilty — oh, so guilty! — but they won’t give up their money. So they vote to raise everyone’s taxes, which doesn’t hurt them but hurts the rest of us. And now they’re shocked — shocked! — that the white working class that sees itself as stuck on the Titanic while the guilty rich white liberals are floating away on the lifeboats came out in force and voted for Trump. Sure, he’s a racist, sexist pig. But he told them what they needed to hear. As opposed to the guilty rich white liberals, who have been telling them, essentially, “Too bad for you. Shut up, accept your fate, and pay your taxes. We’re fine, and we’re more concerned about illegal aliens and asylum seekers than we are about you.”
Part of the guilt of which you speak comes from the fact that the rich white liberals as represented by Hillary Clinton, if we are going to sweepingly classify people, are the ones who made the policies to invade the countries where these immigrants lived and left a power vacuum so that there was no real choice for them but to seek safety elsewhere. I agree that it doesn’t seem the rich white liberals want to give up their money so they intertwine it with charitable foundations so that it is hidden, for example.
I did see where the the mayor of Winooski who’s blaming Trump for withholding tax money for government jobs it may become Sanctuary cities that has been around that is nothing new unless I have missed something