With news about potential raids across the United States, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said the city is “prohibiting the use of our resources to aid or support ICE in its enforcement activities.”
President Donald Trump on Saturday said he was postponing a nationwide immigration sweep to deport people living in the U.S. illegally, including families, saying he would give lawmakers time to work out border solutions.
“At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “If not, Deportations start!”
Irvin released a public statement Saturday about the possible raids.
“We are very much aware of the federal plans for Immigration and Custom Enforcement raids in 10 cities throughout our nation that were initially planned for (Sunday), but now have been delayed for two weeks,” he said in the statement.
“Aurora is not on the list as one of the targeted cities, but our close proximity to Chicago has caused justifiable fear and concern with some of our residents,” he said. “The city of Aurora joins with Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in prohibiting the use of our resources to aid or support ICE in its enforcement activities.”
He said that while Aurora does not have any jurisdiction over federal actions, including any possible raids, “I fully support our immigrant and refugee families who live in Aurora and object to any such raids that will separate families and traumatize entire segments of our community.”
The mayor said that “as Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman and I have both previously stated, our Aurora police officers do not, have not and will not ask for or use immigration status in routine police activities. These policies have been in place for many years and, rest assured, they will not be compromised during my administration.”
Associated Press contributed to this article.
