BRUNSWICK

An advocate group wants the town of Brunswick to adopt a resolution welcoming immigrants but stopping short of declaring the community a sanctuary city.

Sanctuary Brunswick organizer Rosalie Paul called the resolution “a step beyond just a feeling of goodwill” at a meeting with advocates and town officials on Wednesday.

“It’s important for our immigrant communities to feel welcome not just in Lewiston, but anywhere in Maine,” said Bright Lukusa of the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine.

The proposed resolution states that Brunswick “welcomes immigrants and all new residents and visitors to our community, and supports their paths toward citizenship, recognizing the extraordinary efforts and resilience of the individuals who move to our community under the most difficult of circumstances, and who face barriers including unfamiliar language, culture and divisive political rhetoric.”

Sanctuary Brunswick’s Selma Sternleib said the group decided not to push for sanctuary status because there wouldn’t be support from the either the town council nor the police department.

Police Cmdr. Mark Waltz seemed to confirm that assessment.

“As far as becoming a ‘sanctuary city,’ where we would refuse to cooperate with federal (agencies), we would not encourage that,” said Waltz.

Waltz said sanctuary city status could be confusing for officers unsure of what laws to follow, while also jeopardizes some $8,000-$10,000 in federal grants.

“We have priorities, and our priorities are looking after the safety and health of the citizens of Brunswick,” stated Waltz, though he didn’t rule out calling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Recent incident

Waltz pointed to a recent incident police had with an individual who was not in the country legally.

“In the recent past, our officers ran into someone who was despondent and considering jumping off the Green Bridge,” he recalled. “As it turned out, her motivation was because she was not here legally and she was upset about her status and worried about what to do. The officers didn’t respond by calling ICE. The officers responded by getting her help to get through the crisis.”

No one on the panel specifically spoke in favor of Brunswick becoming a sanctuary city, but instead focused on actions and policies that could make Brunswick more welcoming to immigrants.

“I know one of the things that is a major barrier is the language access,” said Lukusa. “So many people come here and they don’t know English, and it’s so hard for them to access services or just be able to talk to people.

“I think that should be something that’s important, something that Brunswick could work on to be a welcoming community,” she added.

Beyond breaking down language and communication barriers at the personal level, some advocated pursuing policies that directly address immigrant concerns.

“My understanding is you don’t just stop at personal welcoming,” said Town Council Chairwoman Sarah Brayman, who also chairs Brunswick’s Human Rights Task Force. “There are a lot of policies that can be put into place: Access to health care, supports for languages, supports for culture, what do we do in our schools, how do we train our police officers, how do we train the folks in town hall, how do we train our truck drivers.

“I think being a welcoming city goes beyond just a fuzzy thing, it means putting something behind that fuzziness and really standing up,” she added.

“We really haven’t looked into all those things she mentioned, but that’s certainly something we should be looking into,” said Sternleib. “There’s a lot of things that would be included in welcoming people, not just saying ‘Hi, it’s nice to see you.’”

Starting point

For now, Sanctuary Brunswick will work to get their resolution approved by the council. However, Sternleib said, the resolution is only a starting point to make Brunswick a more welcoming place to immigrants. She hopes more forums and conversations will follow in the coming weeks.

Neither the number of immigrants in Brunswick nor their status could be identified at Wednesday’s meeting.

Brunswick Town Manager John Eldridge said in his remarks that Brunswick is already a welcoming community, adding that it is “not one without problems, not one that can’t be better, but it is a welcoming community.”

nstrout@timesrecord.com