Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger and Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle were two of 31 members of Cities for Action who signed an open letter to President Barack Obama last week ahead of the presidential transition later this month.
The letter is “urging [Obama] to commit to further protections for the many immigrants in their communities before he leaves office.”
The coalition represents over 100 mayors and county executives from across the country.
The letter recommends that the Obama administration “strengthen support for young immigrants with Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals by accepting DACA renewal applications” and supporting “immigrants who cannot safely return to their home countries due to conflict, natural disaster or other emergency conditions.”
The letter also thanks the Obama administration for supporting immigrant families.
Chapel Hill and Carrboro are among municipalities across the country that have adopted policies to deprioritize immigrant status when law enforcement is interacting with residents who may not be legal United States citizens. Officials say the policy is intended to make all residents feel safe, regardless of their immigration status, in case they need to call emergency officials.
The localities have been under scrutiny recently as former Republican Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill banning the policies across the state, but the legislation did not contain any enforcement provisions. Sanction possibilities for municipalities with these policies were discussed in the last legislative session but no laws were eventually passed.
The other letter signees include New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emauel.
The full letter to Obama dated December 29 is below:
Dear President Obama:
As mayors and county executives in the Cities for Action coalition, we write to thank you for your leadership on behalf of immigrant families and urge you to take action to ensure continued support for vulnerable immigrants in our communities before you leave office.
Cities for Action is a national coalition of over 100 mayors and county executives that advocates for inclusive local policies and national immigration reform. As local government leaders throughout the country, we know that immigrants make our communities stronger economically, culturally, and socially. For this reason, we have enthusiastically embraced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, expressed repeated support for and defense of your 2014 executive actions on immigration, and worked closely with your administration to promote citizenship and the economic, social, and civic integration of immigrants.
On behalf of millions of our immigrant residents and their families, we thank you for the steps your administration has taken to support vulnerable immigrant populations, from bright young people who may only know life in this country, to immigrants who cannot return to their home countries because of conflict or natural disaster, as well as those who look to the U.S. to lead on human rights and non-discrimination. These actions reflect the ideals of inclusion and refuge that our country is founded on.
We also thank you for listening to concerns from local leaders, among other voices, and taking steps this week to end the failed National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) program. This “special registration” program was discriminatory and created great fear and turmoil within our communities, particularly among Muslim immigrants, while not providing any increase in security. A revival of the program would only serve to heighten tensions and increase the risk of bias-based crimes at a time when hate speech and hate crimes are on the rise. For these reasons, we commend your Administration for this move.
We urge that you continue your support for immigrant communities in the last few weeks of your presidency. Specifically, we suggest that your administration (1) continue support for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, and (2) continue support for immigrants who have Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
First, we encourage you to undertake steps to support the over 740,000 DACA recipients in the U.S. DACA has tremendously benefitted our communities by helping our residents thrive and contribute in myriad ways. For this reason, we are committed to advocating for the continuation of DACA in the next administration and for legislative relief for Dreamers in Congress. In the meantime, we call upon your administration to accept early renewal applications for current DACA holders to extend temporary protections for them. In addition, we urge USCIS to commit to speedy processing of initial and renewal applications and urge your administration to implement additional privacy protections for DACA holders to reassure recipients that they will not be punished as a result of coming out of the shadows.
Second, we urge you to extend protections for immigrants who cannot return safely to their countries of origin because of extraordinary conditions, including natural disasters or armed conflict. Cities for Action has applauded the steps that your administration has taken to grant temporary relief to these individuals. We now ask that your administration continues this urgent form of humanitarian protection by reviewing the current TPS designations and extending such designations or making re-designations or new designations as appropriate before the end of your term. In particular, we urge your administration to take steps to protect immigrants from countries that recently experienced extraordinary conditions that have made return unsafe, including Haiti and Ecuador. We also ask that USCIS commit to swift processing for TPS applications and re-registrations.
Thank you again for the many positive actions you have undertaken as President on behalf of immigrants in our communities, and we hope that you will consider these recommendations.
Sincerely,
Ed Pawlowski. Mayor of Allentown, PA
Steve Adler, Mayor of Austin, TX
Catherine Pugh, Mayor of Baltimore, MD
William Bell, Mayor of Birmingham, AL
Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of Boston, MA
Lydia Lavelle, Mayor of Carrboro, NC
Albert Robles, Mayor of Carson, CA
James A. Diossa, Mayor of Central Falls, RI
Pam Hemminger, Mayor of Chapel Hill, NC
Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago, IL
Michael Hancock, Mayor of Denver, CO
Roy D. Buol, Mayor of Dubuque, IA
Svante Myrick, Mayor of Ithaca, NY
Madeline Rogero, Mayor of Knoxville, TN
Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, CA
Paul Soglin, Mayor of Madison, WI
Manuel Cantu, Mayor of McFarland, CA
Ike Leggett, Executive of Montgomery County, MD
Yxstian Gutierrez, Mayor of Moreno Valley, CA
Toni Harp, Mayor of New Haven, CT
Noam Bramson, Mayor of New Rochelle, NY
Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City, NY
Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia, PA
Liz Lempert, Mayor of Princeton, NJ
Jorge Elorza, Mayor of Providence, RI
John Dickert, Mayor of Racine, WI
Tom Butt, Mayor of Richmond, CA
Kevin Johnson, Mayor of Sacramento, CA
Ed Lee, Mayor of San Francisco, CA
Ed Murray, Mayor of Seattle, WA
Francis Slay, Mayor of St. Louis, MO
Stephanie Miner, Mayor of Syracuse, NY
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines