We are asking for community support in our call to our Mayor and City Council to pass an Ice-Free Ordinance. Please read below and consider signing the petition and then sharing to your friends and neighbors. 

Dear Mayor & Council,

 We write as Batavia residents and business owners to encourage you to pass an ordinance prohibiting the use of City of Batavia property for federal civil immigration enforcement operations, which you will be discussing at your upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting. As our elected leaders, you have made diversity and inclusion a central goal of your strategic plan. This ordinance is an opportunity for you to lead with these values. 

 Our community prides itself on being welcoming of community members of all races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and lived experiences. At a time when this unity is under attack by divisive forces, it is paramount that our city leaders affirm this characteristic of Batavia. Such an ordinance is an opportunity for you to do exactly that.

As a community, we also pride ourselves on having each other's backs. As Mayor Schielke often recalls, Batavia has a proud tradition of helping neighbors out during times of need, as exhibited with the rich charitable infrastructure we have here. Right now, community members are in need. As in every town in the country, Batavians of all ages are going to school, working, and living in fear that a family member may not return home that day, instead being snatched by ICE while going about their business, unable to be located by their family, and trapped in a loop violent detention system. 

There is widespread agreement that the U.S immigration system is broken. This is not a problem we expect you to solve. However, it is also not the fault of our neighbors who find themselves undocumented or are descendents of immigrants. Unfortunately, the “right way” of immigrating has become impossible or improbable for many in this broken system. The immigrant community members could be any of us - who make difficult decisions for themselves and their family everyday, trying to get by and contribute to the community. Prohibiting ICE and immigration enforcement on City property is a small, yet important step you can take to protect these neighbors.

Batavia is too strong to be engrossed into the division and fear thrown at us. Armed and masked men kidnapping community members with no criminal record into unmarked vehicles; and using racial profiling to do so, does not make anyone safer. Spending billions of our tax dollars to displace a population which commits fewer crimes on average than U.S citizens does not make anyone any wealthier. Our immigrant neighbors make our community better. They contribute to our businesses and local economy, our culture, our spirit, our schools, and indeed everything about Batavia that makes us the great town we are and continue to aspire to be.

It is well inline with your strategic plan, your City responsibilities, and the community values that make us proud to call Batavia home that you take action to keep our neighbors safe and free from rogue state violence. A welcoming city and ICE-free ordinance, as similar to what has been done in Chicago and Evanston, is a small but important step in that direction, and one we urge you to take.

Signed,

Batavia residents and business owners

(please sign with your name and Ward number/ address)