Local activists opposed to the Trump administration’s immigration policies are hoping to make it harder for ICE to do its job in the city of Syracuse, by urging the Syracuse Common Council to end contracts with companies tied to the Department of Homeland Security.
It’s something other communities across the country have done, including in upstate New York. A new law in Binghamton prohibits the city from using any city funds, resources, or personnel for federal immigration purposes.
"The reason why this is so effective is that the federal government does not have the infrastructure to do these mass immigration enforcement that they're currently doing," said Genevieve Garcia Kendrick, with the Syracuse chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, who helped write a similar resolution for the city Syracuse. "The only reason why they're able to do this is because of their contracts with private companies."
She believes it can be an effective strategy, because the federal government needs contracts with private companies to continue its mass immigration policies.
"If we take away that incentive, if we show private companies you cannot come into Syracuse if you were doing this enforcement, if you are colluding with this type of, like, immigration, aggressiveness," said Garcia Hendrick. "We're de-incentivizing companies to do that, right? And we can start to chip away at the infrastructure."
Garcia Kendrick said there are many ways to make this happen.
"Where we as a community help review contracts, so we understand the impact on Syracuse," she said. "Maybe this goes through the city auditor, maybe this, maybe it's even just a check mark when a company is replying to an RFP and they signed an affidavit that said they're not going to go into contract with DHS."
Lawmakers have already agreed with the strategy in a way. The council voted to revoke the contract with Flock Safety over concerns that the company would share data with federal immigration agents.
