ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Ann Arbor City Council voted Monday to expand restrictions on federal immigration enforcement activities on city property, a move that comes amid growing national controversy over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
The resolution, which passed unanimously, prohibits ICE agents from accessing non-public areas of city buildings without a warrant and bans the use of city or vacant parking lots as ICE staging areas.
“Under the current administration, ICE is committing crimes every single day, beatings in the streets, tear gas, indiscriminate arrests, and, of course, murder,” Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor told Local 4. “All of this is being excused, denied in a blizzard of lies.”
The new measure builds upon a 2017 resolution that initially limited the use of city resources for civil immigration enforcement.
Taylor, one of the resolution’s sponsors, said the city will also provide signs for businesses, organizations, and places of worship to designate non-public areas.
“The city will be developing signage for use by members of the public who want to make very clear what’s public, what’s non-public, where ICE is prohibited from coming,” Taylor said.
The resolution also includes a provision that would prohibit ICE agents operating in the city from wearing masks, pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against the state of California.
The council’s action follows a unanimous vote by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners that banned ICE agents from county property without a warrant, making it the first county in Michigan to do so.
The vote comes amid heightened tensions following recent ICE-related incidents.
Last week, hundreds of Ann Arbor residents gathered for a candlelight vigil honoring Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was killed during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, marking the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by ICE agents in that city this month.
The ICE Detroit Field Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the restrictions.
Some advocates who spoke during public comments argued for the resolution to go even further.
“This current proposal does not ban ICE from city property, and it does not extend to the many places that house programs in which families and children might need to participate,” said Margorie Ziefert with Movement for Immigrant Rights Action.
Taylor said the resolution limits ICE’s presence in the city to the fullest extent of the law.
“If the property is open to the public, then we can’t prevent ICE from coming there, and to say otherwise in my view creates a dangerous situation for folks who are undocumented,” Taylor said. “We don’t want to give people a false sense of security.”