Traverse City is unlikely to pursue a sanctuary city designation after a vote Tuesday advised against it.
A resolution passed unanimously Tuesday by an Ad Hoc Committee of the Human Rights Commission, which was exploring the possibility of getting the designation.
Taylor Nash is the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission in Traverse City. He’s also a member of the ad hoc committee that was looking into sanctuary city status..He said there just wasn’t support in the community to become a sanctuary city.
“I think the most important feedback we got was from people that are working with immigrant populations and migrant populations in the area. They were not in support of designating Traverse City a sanctuary city. If the very population that we’re aiming to help doesn’t want this then why are we pursuing it.”
Nash said people working directly with the immigrant community were concerned a sanctuary city designation might hurt the people it sought to help.
“I think they were concerned with the attention it would draw to the community and they were concerned that it might make people in immigrant communities in the area less likely to seek out help or call the police if there were an incident because of fear of what might happen.”
Nash said the committee also saw pushback from the community at large.
“There was also vehement pushback from the public and it looked like something that might not be healthy for the public and might negatively impact people that are already somewhat marginalized and we didn’t want to contribute to that either. At least, that’s how I came to my decision.”
Nash said the full Human Rights Commission will be given the committee's findings at its next meeting at 5:30 PM, August 14th in the Government Center.