Moorhead City Council debates creating city ordinance regarding ICE operations

MOORHEAD — The Moorhead City Council held a workshop at the Hjemkomst Center where there was some heated debate on the issue of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the city.

The topic of ICE took the entirety of the workshop, with the council having to push back safety presentations by both city police and fire departments that were also on the days agenda.

Council members Deb White and Nicole Mattson asked if the council would be able to create a city ordinance barring ICE agents from using city property, like city-owned parking lots and schools for conducting operations.

“I know that we have a lot of limitations on what we can do, but as we said in our last council meeting, we should be focusing on what we can do. If we look at what many other cities in Minnesota are doing, there are things – that even our city attorney has pointed out, that are things that we legally can do,” White said.

That idea received pushback from some attending the workshop, including Police Chief Chris Helmick, who expressed concern at the position such an ordinance would put on officers if ICE agents violated the ordinance.

“I’m going to speak pretty plainly here. I find it ironic that we find it traumatic to talk about an active killer situation in a school and training people how to deal with that, but yet we will freely talk about, ‘Well, what if ICE shows up?’ which is probably quite less dramatic, I would think,” Helmick said. “It’s just something that we would have to navigate through with, and honestly, I don’t think ICE would show up at our schools demanding to make entry. And if they did, I would be on the phone to whoever I needed to get on the phone to make sure that didn’t happen.”

Moorhead Mayor Shelly Carlson was also concerned at how such ordinances would be enforceable.

Other council members, like retired district court judge Lisa Borgen, said she wasn’t sure if the city council had the power to regulate ICE actions in the city.

Council member Chuck Hendrickson shared news that his son, who lives in the twin cities, was teargassed while protesting ICE. Hendrickson says he supports the council taking action, but says he’s cautious on what that action should be.

“I do think there are, like, small steps, you know, where the police – if they do run into ICE, they could record everything that’s happening when they are on the premises. Or, just – it’s kind of awkward, because you don’t know who has authority there. They police or the Federal government,” Hendrickson said.

Ultimately, the council decided to continue discussing the topic at a future meeting.