Blangiardi on ICE: City to exercise "appropriate judgment" toward immigration law enforcement

As anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles continue, a Honolulu spokesman says the city and county will “exercise appropriate judgment” in handling immigration law enforcement.

Ian Scheuring, deputy communications director for the office of Mayor Rick Blangiardi, issued a statement to Aloha State Daily Monday regarding the City and County of Honolulu's position regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration enforcement actions.

"While there are no official policies regarding City compliance with ICE, the City understands its obligations to comply with federal, state and county laws and regulations in the context of immigration enforcement actions and individual civil rights and we intend to exercise appropriate judgment and discretion in the interest of our residents, public safety and the law," read Scheuring's statement.

One of the things that prompted our question to the mayor — amid the general crackdown on illegal immigration by President Donald Trump’s administration — was Honolulu's brief appearance on a federal list of "sanctuary jurisdictions."

In April, Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to identify “sanctuary jurisdictions,” defined as any municipality or state that has a policy limiting how much citizenship information about a person it would share with the federal government, or restricting its compliance with the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement actions.

DHS issued a list of those jurisdictions across 36 states in May. One of the cities identified on that list was Honolulu.

However, DHS subsequently deleted that list for reasons that have not been declared. No version of the list has since been re-published.

“Both the Mayor and Managing Director believe the Department of Homeland Security mistakenly listed the City and County of Honolulu as a Sanctuary City and note the published list was subsequently removed from the DHS website,” read Scheuring’s statement.

We also asked the mayor's office about its thoughts on a letter from ACLU Hawai‘i which that organization issued last week to all county police chiefs, mayors and councilmembers in the Islands. The letter asked them to reject any agreements where local personnel or resources would be used for immigration enforcement purposes.

“Collaborating with federal immigration efforts is not the domain of the state or counties,” read one such letter to Honolulu officials. “(Memoranda of Understanding) … and other forms of informal collaboration may all become weaponized against Hawaiʻi residents. They are inappropriate and imprudent uses of limited resources.”

The letter argues that collaborating with ICE will further undermine trust between residents and law enforcement agencies, particularly among immigrant communities that are already less likely to report crimes to the police.

Furthermore, the letter argues, entering into a 287(g) agreement with the federal government — a collaboration which delegates certain immigration enforcement duties to local law enforcement — diverts police resources away from public safety needs. The letter notes that the police departments of two towns in Maine, Winthrop and Monmouth, withdrew from such agreements after ICE declined to reimburse the towns for the cost of carrying out immigration actions.

The letters also assert there is an increased risk of litigation against the city and express concerns about “sowing terror” among the immigrant community.

Scheuring’s statement to ASD noted that Blangiardi has “reviewed” ACLU Hawai‘i's letter, but gave no more indication than that about the mayor’s willingness to agree with it.

Blangiardi’s decision could have spillover effects. A bill under discussion by the U.S. Congress would issue penalties toward municipalities that are deemed to be uncooperative toward immigration enforcement agencies.

In particular, the “Save SBA from Sanctuary Cities Act” would require the Small Business Administration to relocate all of its offices outside of sanctuary jurisdictions — which, based on DHS’ most recent list, would leave Honolulu without an SBA office.