Advocates call on Detroit leaders to not cooperate with ICE, limit immigration enforcement

Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News on Jan 13, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

DETROIT — Local immigration advocates are urging Detroit officials to limit how much they collaborate with ICE agents in the city as the furor over the shooting death of Rene Nicole Good in Minneapolis continues to reverberate.

At a Tuesday morning rally before the Detroit City Council meeting, about 60 people braved frigid temperatures to support potential legislation that would ban or limit ICE activity in Detroit. Afterward, dozens also attended the council meeting, many calling on the council to declare Detroit a sanctuary city.

The Rev. Paul Perez, pastor of Detroit Central United Methodist, decried ICE's aggressive tactics.

"I imagine Jesus is weeping now," he said during Tuesday's protest. "ICE is not making our communities safer. ICE needs to be held accountable."

Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero has asked the council's legislative policy division and corporation counsel to explore what local authority the city potentially has to limit or ban ICE city property or within the city of Detroit to protect all Detroiters.

She's also looking to explore if the city has the ability to limit or ban immigration enforcement operations in and around sensitive locations, such as schools, clinics, hospitals and places of worship.

"Following the brutal murder of Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis last week by a federal ice agent, fear has spread like a tidal wave across the city," said Thomas "T.J" Rogers, a staff member of Santiago-Romero, during the protest. "Everyone, citizen and immigrant, documented and not, is afraid. This is what happens when the President of the United States and his administration spew racist, nativist rhetoric designed to other entire communities and whitewash the country's history."

Among the speakers at the rally were State Sen. Stephanie Change and State Sen. Mary Cavanagh, who have introduced proposed legislation regarding ICE activity. The bills would ban the wearing of face covering masks by law enforcement, as well as protect people's personal information from being used by immigration without a judicial warrant. The proposals also would protect schools, places of worship, hospitals, domestic violence shelters, courthouses from immigration enforcement.

"These are all policies that we know can work," Chang said. "They are policies that have been enacted in other states and other cities, and Michigan needs to take action now."

Chang said there is a "compounding crisis at the intersection of immigration and criminal justice." She added: "We see masked ICE agents kidnapping people off of the streets. We see dads being detained by ICE and border patrol outside schools. We see refugees with expunged criminal records targeted for deportation.

"We see numerous reports of problems with medical care, food and living conditions at ICE facilities around the country, and we see detained people being moved from facility to facility across multiple state lines, making it impossible for their loved ones to locate them."

At the council meeting, at least two dozen residents, many of them activists with the Detroit Community Action Network, urged council and Mayor Sheffield to take action to limit or ban ICE activity in Detroit. Some called on the council to pass a resolution making Detroit a sanctuary city.

"We must not allow a Renee Good here in Detroit," said Victoria Camille, a member of the Detroit Police Board of Commissioners, who expressed her support for Santiago-Romero's fact-finding mission to possibly limit ICE "…The law exists to serve the people. We must find a legal path to get ICE out of Detroit and protect Detroiters."