LEBANON — A group of city residents hoping to protect undocumented immigrants living in the Upper Valley are proposing a new ordinance that would prohibit Lebanon police from inquiring about a person’s immigration status or sharing immigration-related information with federal authorities.
Volunteers have gathered hundreds of signatures in an ongoing petition drive to get the “Welcoming Lebanon Ordinance” before the City Council, where they hope it will either be adopted or sent to voters for approval.
“I want every person in Lebanon to feel safe,” said Lebanon resident Kathy Becket, the petition drive’s lead organizer.
The measure follows on the heels of a highly publicized effort to enact a similar ordinance in Hartford last summer.
Becket, who is associated with the United Valley Interfaith Project, said she knows families who are fearful they will be racially profiled by police and no longer drive in Lebanon.
She said the ordinance would counter those fears with clear rules for municipal employees who might interact with people and immigration officials.
The proposed ordinance would ban police from aiding immigration enforcement efforts, detaining people for immigration law violations and allowing federal immigration officials to interview those already in Lebanon police custody. Any municipal employee aware of federal immigration activities would be required to warn residents, under the ordinance.
Lebanon resident Judith Bush, who is helping with the petition drive, said the effort is partially meant to counter immigration policies endorsed by President Donald Trump as well as recent immigration enforcement actions in the Upper Valley.
“The need for this kind of action reflects what’s happening in the country and what’s happening locally,” she said.
In September, federal immigration officials announced that 25 people were taken into custody during operations in the Lebanon area, including what they called four “illegal aliens” who were detained as part of a daylong Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 89.
However, Lebanon police didn’t take part in the checkpoint and don’t “conduct immigration investigations nor do we assist Border Patrol, or any other federal agency, with investigating an individual’s immigration status,” Police Chief Richard Mello told the Valley News at the time.
“Lebanon officers are trained not to inquire about an individual’s immigration status unless it is germane to an investigation involving a violation of New Hampshire state statutes/laws,” he added.
Mello on Tuesday confirmed those policies still stand. He declined to comment on the proposed ordinance, citing an ongoing legal review.
City Manager Shaun Mulholland said he is concerned about the legality of the ordinance, adding some provisions contradict federal law and are likely unenforceable. He worried the measure would effectively make Lebanon a “sanctuary city” and draw the ire of authorities who could target federal funds the Lebanon relies on.
Lebanon Mayor Tim McNamara, who said he is opposed to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, also said the proposed ordinance could “run afoul of federal law”
“I think that the proposal, as written, is problematic in many ways,” McNamara said on Wednesday. “I think it puts the city in a position of potential conflict with federal immigration laws.”
“I just don’t basically see this as necessary,” he added.
But City Councilor Erling Heistad said the ordinance would provide the same “rights and privileges” to everyone in Lebanon, not just U.S. citizens.
“I think those goals are equitable and within the overall confines of what we think of as Lebanon being for everybody,” said Heistad, whose father was a Norwegian immigrant who went on to found the Lebanon Outing Club. “I think the biggest problem is going to be the legal entanglements, whether they’re federal or state.”
The Lebanon measure is modeled after a similar ordinance debated this summer in neighboring Hartford, according to Asma Elhuni, co-founder of the activist group Rise! Upper Valley.
That “Welcoming Hartford Ordinance” sought to amend the town’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy to provide guidelines for when municipal employees — including police — could communicate with federal officials about a person’s immigration status.
Police argued the proposal was in direct violation of federal law, and the months long debate quickly grew contentious.
Rise! organized the protest that blocked traffic for about two hours this summer in White River Junction in response to reports of arrests of undocumented immigrants by Border Patrol agents.
Ultimately, the Selectboard failed to reach a compromise and decided to put the ordinance to voters on Hartford’s Town Meeting ballot.
Elhuni said it’s unlikely discussions in Lebanon will mirror those in Hartford, largely because the petition will provide Lebanon’s leaders with a clear message from residents.
“In Hartford, they kept saying ‘What does the town want?’ ” Elhuni said. “We can clearly see the town has spoken through signatures in the petition.”
Bush, who attended the Hartford meetings, and McNamara both said they hope for a better dialogue in Lebanon.
“I would hope that whatever discussion occurs, it can be a little more civil than what happened in Hartford,” McNamara said, adding the “name-calling” that occurred was “completely inappropriate.”
Supporters have until Dec. 21 to collect the 611 signatures, or 10% of the votes cast in Lebanon during the 2018 gubernatorial election, needed to trigger a public hearing before Lebanon’s City Council.
After the hearing, the nine-member body can decide to either adopt the ordinance or put its fate to voters during the March municipal election. Under the City Charter, councilors are allowed to amend the measure’s language before putting it on the ballot.
City Clerk Sandi Allard said she’s certified 224 signatures as of Wednesday morning and plans to review an additional 140 names submitted this week.
Volunteers on the petition drive are at the Lebanon Library and in the periodical reading room at Kilton Public Library from 5 to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, where people can review and sign the petition.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.