UPDATED: Dec. 16, 2017 at 7:19 p.m.

Syracuse residents urged Mayor-elect Ben Walsh to maintain policies that protect undocumented immigrants Tuesday evening during a public safety forum hosted by one of Walsh’s transition committees.

About 75 area community members attended the forum, packing the Southwest Community Center Library’s stage room at about 7 p.m. Walsh’s neighborhoods and public safety committee listened to audience input for about an hour.

Most policy suggestions brought up by residents were centered around Walsh’s stance on Syracuse’s sanctuary city status and community policing.

Outgoing Mayor Stephanie Miner, in her state of the city address this past January, declared Syracuse a sanctuary city, a wide-ranging term that generally means a local jurisdiction will not use police resources to enforce President Donald Trump’s federal immigration policies and hold arrested immigrants long enough for them to be deported. Walsh has told Syracuse.com the sanctuary city term is “a political term, without any real meaning.”

“I know that the mayor-elect isn’t fond of the term ‘sanctuary city,’” said Sheila Sicilia, an Onondaga Community College professor of computer studies, who attended the meeting. “But I hope he’ll leave it.”

Sicilia said she was only speaking for herself and not OCC. Ann Tiffany, a South Side resident who lives on Midland Avenue, also asked Walsh to “honor” the sanctuary city status.

Joe Driscoll, a Common Councilor-elect of the 5th district, who supported Walsh during the race, responded to the sanctuary city questions. Driscoll said that, in conversations, the mayor-elect has said he has no plans to change police protocol “as it stands” or devote resources to “doing the federal government’s work for them,” regarding the sanctuary city issue.

“While he may not support the title, he still supports the concept of not wasting resources on stuff that’s not a problem,” said Driscoll, a member of the neighborhoods and public safety committee. Walsh did not attend the event.

Many of the sanctuary city questions also focused on Frank Fowler, the current Syracuse Police Department chief, who’s announced that he will retire when Miner leaves office.

Peter Swords, a member of the Syracuse Peace Council, told the committee he doesn’t care what Walsh calls sanctuary city policies, as long as Syracuse “(keeps) that idea that everybody living in this country has the same rights.”

The peace council is a co-founder of the CNY Solidarity Coalition, which formed after Trump’s election in 2016. Coalition members have staged multiple protests since then, including a massive demonstration at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport in late January after a version of the president’s contentious travel ban took effect.

“Syracuse Police Department has a policy, that’s Chief Fowler’s, of not profiling people because they (speak) a different language,” Swords said. “Don’t just call (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) when someone doesn’t speak English. That’s one of the things Syracuse Police Department does pretty well.”

Meeting attendees also gave suggestions and asked questions about other police policies. One DeWitt resident, Coran Klaver, who works with the local chapter of the National Action Network, asked if new SPD body cameras would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act during Walsh’s term in office.

“I am not a lawyer, and I don’t know the answer to that. I’m not going to pretend that I do,” said Bob Dougherty, the committee’s co-chair, in response. “But we heard that, and we’ve got it in our notes, so we’ll take a look.”

Sam Ogozalek | Asst. News Editor

Dougherty added that his committee, which includes several prominent local community leaders, will meet Thursday morning to discuss residents’ suggestions. By Dec. 29, the committee is expected to submit a report about the meetings, he said.

Walsh’s finance committee plans to meet at Le Moyne College on Wednesday to host a similar meeting at 6 p.m. David Van Slyke, dean of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is a member of the finance committee.

“We want something to come out of this,” said Dougherty, a former Common Councilor. “Speaking for Ben, he wants to hear what you want to say … I don’t think this is just going to be a ‘Let’s do this (and) check off the box.’”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the relationship between the Syracuse Peace Council and the CNY Solidarity Coalition was misstated. The Syracuse Peace Council is a co-founder of the CNY Solidarity Coalition. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on December 12, 2017 at 9:55 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek