Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published May 18, 2007

Detroit — A new Detroit city ordinance prohibiting police or other city employees from engaging in racial, religious or ethnic profiling could prove to be an important measure for improving the lives of Latinos in the city, said the Christian Service coordinator for one of southwest Detroit’s largest parishes.

"I’ve see people who have been afraid to go out for shopping," Efrain Zamudio of Most Holy Redeemer Parish said Monday.

The ordinance, adopted unanimously May 9 by the Detroit City Council, forbids police or other officials from inquiring into a person’s immigration status, unless that status is relevant to the situation.

Besides removing undocumented immigrants’ fears of even a minor encounter with police carrying the risk of deportation, the ordinance should also ease the minds of many legal residents, Zamudio said: "I think just about everyone in the Hispanic community here in Detroit, even if they have citizenship or a green card themselves, has some relatives here who do not have legal status."

The ordinance was inspired by so-called "sanctuary" ordinances or policies in a number of other cities, but is even wider in scope than most others, explained Juan Escareño, lead organizer with MOSES (Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength), the ecumenical organization that includes many Catholic and Protestant congregations among its members.

"It was introduced by Council President Ken Cockrel, whose chief of staff made a commitment to Msgr. Donald Hanchon to work for its passage last year," Escareño said. The commitment came at a community meeting held June 4 at Ste. Anne de Detroit Parish in southwest Detroit attended by about 450 people.

Msgr. Hanchon, pastor of Most Holy Redeemer Parish, was one of the founders of the Jeremiah Project, one of the regional ecumenical organizations that merged to form MOSES, and continues to be active in the group.

"Hopefully, (the ordinance) will mean that people will not have to be afraid about working with the police on matters of public safety or just going to work or to the store," Escareño added.

Zamudio, who attended the City Council meeting at which the ordinance was adopted, said he was impressed that the body began its meeting with a prayer. "That was very powerful to me, and I see their action as part of the biblical message of being welcoming to strangers," he contined.

Zamudio said he urged listeners to a local Spanish-language radio station (1480 AM) to voice their support for the ordinance to council members, and added that he believes many of them did: "We heard that the secretaries to the council members were annoyed at getting so many phone calls."