On Thursday, the Providence City Council granted first passage to amendments aimed at further restricting cooperation between the Providence Police Department and federal immigration officers.
The amendments to the Community-Police Relations Act must be approved one final time by the full council before being enacted. A vote is scheduled to take place on Nov. 6.
The act currently states that the PPD is not permitted to comply with requests by other agencies to assist “operations conducted for the purpose of enforcing federal civil immigration law.”
The proposed amendments fall into five major categories: broadening the legal definition of federal immigration enforcement agencies, clarifying the types of prohibited collaboration without a signed judicial warrant, expanding the definition of protected spaces, limiting collection and disclosure of sensitive personal data and allowing organizations to sue the city for alleged violations.
The proposed amendments follow a July incident in which the PPD was found to have illegally assisted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the findings of a civilian oversight body.
Providence City Council Chief of Staff June Rose wrote in an email to The Herald that some city councilors have argued the incident “exposed gaps in the CPRA’s protections by showing how Providence police could still, in practice, provide indirect assistance to federal immigration enforcement despite the ordinance.”
Rose wrote that several individuals and organizations were involved in drafting the amendments, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, Providence Youth Student Movement, Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance, R.I. Center for Justice, Dorcas International Institute of R.I. and Fuerza Laboral.
“The solidarity and collaboration demonstrated in this policymaking process,” Rose said, “is a shining light in this very dark time.”
“In the wake of the Trump administration’s continued cruel actions, I am doing everything in my power to protect Providence’s immigrant community,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said in a statement to The Herald. “I applaud the work to prioritize and update the Community Relations Act.”
Celia Peña ’28, a leader of Brown Dream Team, said that the proposed amendments “are important for building trust within our undocumented population and police.” Providence police, she added, “should protect their communities regardless of whatever status they may hold.”
Dream Team is a student group that supports undocumented students, students with undocumented relatives, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and others.
Under the current act, charter schools, after-school facilities and daycares are not included as protected spaces, which deny access to immigration enforcement officers without a judicial warrant.
These amendments would address the “ambiguity in the act’s language around cooperation and lack of meaningful enforcement mechanisms,” Rose said.
“Not leaving room for doubt is essential to holding police and ICE accountable and for the protection of our communities,” Peña said.
Last month, Smiley signed an executive order, titled “A Safe Providence for All,” reaffirming the city’s commitment to “being a safe and welcoming city for all neighbors of all immigration status.”
In a statement, Smiley said he “worked collaboratively” with City Council leadership on the proposed amendments, better aligning them with the executive order. These changes, he added, removed “language that would have made the city and our taxpayers vulnerable to unnecessary lawsuits.”
Smiley believes the amendments will “help to protect our city from dangerous financial liabilities, continue to protect our immigrant communities and support our officers.”
