Residents ask Springfield City Council to help prevent ICE activity 

Community members filled the Springfield City Council chamber Monday evening, Dec. 1, to ask councilors to act against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Springfield. 

Twenty-six people gave public comments, asking the City Council to declare a state of emergency and pass a Springfield sanctuary city resolution.

Commenters spoke of fear among people of color in the community being detained by ICE agents.

“The recent ICE actions are an assault to our neighbors, to our families, to my community,” Lupe Andrade, who hosts a Spanish radio station, told the council.

“I’m asking you to please look at your kids and your families and put yourself in our shoes,” she continued. “Imagine trying to drive to work, trying to make ends meet for your family, in fear if you’re going to be taken away just because of the color of your skin, not knowing if you’re going to see your children again, because this is what our families, this is what our communities are living.”

Commenters asked the City Council to provide real-time public alerts when ICE is active in the community, publicly guarantee the city does not cooperate with ICE and require ICE agents to identify themselves and not wear masks. They also asked councilors to create an emergency family protection fund for families impacted by ICE and end Springfield’s contract with Flock Safety for automated license-plate reader cameras.

Jocelyn Sanchez, who works in the Springfield School District, told councilors she was driving to a school Nov. 19 when she noticed she was being followed by an unmarked vehicle without a front license plate carrying two people wearing ski masks and tactical gear.

“They were tailing me closely and clearly attempting to intimidate me,” she told the council. “I had done nothing wrong. I am not someone with a warrant. I am not a threat. Yet I was treated like one. Thankfully, one of my co-workers was waiting outside in the parking lot for me and was a witness to part of this. And if I hadn’t pulled into the school parking lot, what would have happened?”

Sanchez said the community deserves transparency, accountability and protection. 

Mayor Sean VanGordon commended the commenters on their courage and said the council is listening.

“This is a complicated and nuanced conversation, and part of it is because of how federal law works,” the mayor said. “But what I wanted to tell you is that, at its core, what I’m concerned about is people’s constitutional rights.”

VanGordon said the Springfield Police Department does not cooperate with ICE in accordance with Oregon’s sanctuary law.

The mayor said some of the requests may be doable and some may not be legal under federal law.

“I think the right step here is maybe give us a chance to go back and get some more thought out responses to them,” he said.

Councilor Kori Rodley said everyone who lives in Springfield deserves to feel safe and protected.

“I’m hearing that over and over again, and the painful piece of this is that I personally cannot promise that I can keep every one of you safe or protect everyone from what is happening, from federal overreach and the repercussions of a federal election,” she said. “Elections have consequences, and while we are here to tackle them in every possible way with what we can do at the city level, there are going to be things that we are going to disappoint you on, because we are not going to have as much pull and say at this moment as we would like to.”