Build bridges, not walls, in our community

We are a nation of immigrants. We come from Ireland and Laos, Iran and the Philippines, Eritrea and Ecuador to seek justice, escape tyranny or find economic freedom. Sometimes our relatives came to this country for opportunity, sometimes was just to escape the cold.

Our country has long historical links to many countries, but here in California we have deep ties to Mexico. It’s logical since before it became part of the United States, California was part of Mexico.

We still have many immigrants in our country, many who went through the process to come here legally, many of them “undocumented” or “illegal.” Our hope is they would become citizens.

People are asking that the city of Merced become a “Sanctuary City.” They point to neighbors here living illegally, afraid that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will deport them.

In some cases, undocumented adults have children who are American citizens. They fear parents will be deported and the children won’t have anyone to care for them here, or the children will end up living in a country foreign to them where they don’t know the language or the customs.

There are people in Merced, good people, who cringe at the words “Sanctuary City.”

They maintain that anyone who entered the country without the right paperwork is here illegally and should be prepared to face the consequences. They say there is a process to citizenship and people need to follow it. Period.

They are concerned that if the city classifies itself a Sanctuary City it could lose $9 million in federal funding the president threatens to take away.

There’s another group of people not saying much right now, the employers who have been giving jobs to the undocumented workers. Without jobs there would be little incentive to make the dangerous and expensive trip across the border. Economists say the jobs are largely in three industries – agriculture, construction and hospitality. Without these workers, the prices for food, homes and hotel rooms would climb, they say.

Sanctuary City is a huge buzz word today coming from all sides of the political spectrum, and the focus tends to shine on police departments. Let’s be clear on some points:

▪ The Merced Police Department does not enforce immigration laws.

▪ The Merced PD does not round up undocumented people for ICE.

▪ The Merced PD wants all crime victims to report crimes regardless of their immigration status and without fear of being deported.

▪ The Merced PD doesn’t care what a person’s immigration status is when investigating a crime.

▪ The Merced PD enforces the law equally for all people, regardless of race, color, creed, national origin or immigration status.

This is police policy.

It is tough enough getting witnesses to crime to open up to officers without being afraid they might end up being deported. We don’t want a battered spouse to take another blow because she or he is afraid deportation will be the end result. We don’t want a murder investigation – or even an auto burglary investigation – to be slowed because there is a fear that our officers will be sharing information with ICE.

It won’t happen.

But we understand why there’s disbelief. The Santa Cruz police chief is angry because he says SCPD was lied to by ICE. His department cooperated in what they thought was a gang crackdown but the chief says it was really an ICE immigration raid.

The recent flurry of ICE raids and the proclamations from the White House has increased the calls for Sanctuary City status. And it has created panic and rumors.

We’ve heard about the ICE raid at a Merced supermarket that didn’t happen. Then we heard it was at an Atwater supermarket. By the weekend, the raid rumor had shifted to Winton. All driven by fear.

Having Sanctuary City status doesn’t do anything that we aren’t doing now. Instead, what we need to do now is to build bridges, not walls. We will reach out to the undocumented people living in the shadows, not to shine a light on them, but to assure them they have the same protection from criminals the rest of the community has.

We will reach out to all our disenfranchised residents so they understand that we are not a city of walls and barriers, but one of bridges and ties.

We are Merced. All of us.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Build bridges, not walls, in our community."