City may codify noncooperation with immigration enforcement actions.

Pittsburgh City Council is exploring how to codify its policies that its employees will not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement detaining Pittsburghers.

The action comes as stories circulate about immigration agents detaining people in the city, including the death of Daphy Michel, 31, a Haitian asylum seeker, who was detained from Washington County and released into the cold on Feb. 27 from Immigration Customs and Enforcement custody on the South Side. She was found unresponsive at South Side a bus shelter three days later and died after being taken to a hospital.

Council discussed three proposed amendments to the city code during its April 1 committee meeting.

The first, which is scheduled for a final vote next week, prohibits city employees, departments and agencies, including police, from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, though the city cannot prohibit immigration authorities from acting in the city.

 “We certainly can make it clear that we are not going to participate in any way in that activity,” said Council Member Barb Warwick of Greenfield. “This legislation is about trust and allowing people to feel safe.”

Council Member Anthony Coghill of Beechview, whose district is home to large immigrant and refugee communities, said federal immigration activity has hurt small business owners in the neighborhood. He also expressed concern on behalf of some of them about the city attracting attention from the federal government.

“Everybody is living in fear,” he said. “It’s hurting our population. It’s hurting our vitality. It’s hurting everything about what we represent.”

 Council members acknowledged the risk of being in the federal spotlight. “I feel very strongly that in this moment in history, we can’t allow the fear of the federal government’s power of the purse, or any other power they might have, to engage in preemptive capitulation,” said Council Member Erika Strassburger of Squirrel Hill North. “We have to do this.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, Casa San Jose, and Frontline Dignity helped council draft the legislation.

The second two amendments define how the city uses its properties, including parks and department facilities. These would prohibit the federal government from leasing space for enforcement staging and city employees from informally lending space on city-owned property.

Council President R. Daniel Lavelle of the Upper Hill District said the wording of the amendments could not suggest that immigration enforcement is not allowed to enter city-owned or -operated spaces, which is against the law.

Council approved a one-week hold for law review.