CLEVELAND — As the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency continues to crack down on unauthorized immigration, city leaders in Cleveland are working to come up with a plan to prepare residents.


What You Need To Know

  • The mayor's office and council members met privately Wednesday afternoon with dozens of community partners and public safety officials to get a better understanding of what they can do

  • “What I got gathered today from this meeting, if there's anything that I left with, it’s that organizations are creating workshops and establishing space for safe spaces for communities come together so that they could get educated on their rights,” said council member Jasmin Santana

  • As Cleveland’s first and only Latina member of city council, Santana said she's been inundated with calls from people across the city worried about the increasing number of arrests being carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents

The mayor's office and council members met privately Wednesday afternoon with dozens of community partners and public safety officials to get a better understanding of what they can do.

“What I got gathered today from this meeting, if there's anything that I left with, it’s that organizations are creating workshops and establishing space for safe spaces for communities come together so that they could get educated on their rights,” said council member Jasmin Santana.

As Cleveland’s first and only Latina member of city council, Santana said she's been inundated with calls from people across the city worried about the increasing number of arrests being carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

“When you hear this story of a woman not getting her prenatal care, kids not wanting to go to school, families not going to work, how are they going to pay their bills? So, this is like a trickling effect that's going on,” Santana said. “And I share this because I need people to understand how detrimental this is to our economy.” 

But, Santana said, because ICE is a federal agency with its own information systems, there is still a lot of uncertainty among city officials over what is happening and how the city can respond.

“Everyone's asking the same question, right?" she said. “What is the criteria? How many people have they arrested? What were the reasons why they were arrested? That is unknown. I don't think anyone knows that we don't have those numbers. We don't have that information.”

Joe Cimperman, president of local nonprofit Global Cleveland, said while there is a lot unknown right now, it’s important to dispel misinformation and keep the local immigrant community informed with what they do know.

“There's just so many people who think that they're completely vulnerable,” Cimperman said. “I mean, we help people who become U.S. citizens, we're hearing from people who became U.S. citizens, that they're afraid they're gonna have their citizenship revoked. What we can we do? We can tell them that's not true.”

Council President Blaine Griffin, who was also in Wednesday’s meeting, has expressed supported Council member Santana and her efforts.

“We are all united, and these are the times when you have to put bipartisanship aside, you have to put differences aside and come together as decent human beings to make sure that we keep, first and foremost, human decency at the forefront of all this,” Griffin said.

Santana said she feels refreshed after the initial meeting, but it’s important for city leaders to keep preparing.  Because while she says the focus has been on Latino immigrants, people from other communities can also face arrest and the threat of deportation.

“The refugee community, the Asian community, African American community, and the Arab community, we know that's coming,” she said.

Mayor Justin Bibb was not available for an interview, but a spokesperson from his office sent the following statement: “A meeting was held today between city officials and community stakeholders to discuss various concerns expressed by our community. This came about following the statement and resources the Mayor shared yesterday. As the Mayor said – Cleveland is strongest when we act together. As a united community, we will ensure that Cleveland remains on the right side of history.”