Saratoga Springs city police say they played no role in a Tuesday morning arrest by federal law enforcement in the Spa City.
Just before 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, an individual on Broadway was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. A video of the arrest was uploaded to Facebook.
City Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll told WAMC that while the Saratoga Springs Police Department does not enforce federal immigration laws, the city was informed of the arrest about an hour beforehand.
A Tuesday night's city council meeting, members of the public sought answers from city leaders, including city resident Andrew Beatty.
“I think that with an action like this it really would’ve been much more appropriate to have something prepared and coordinated on, honestly, to make sure people were informed immediately what was going on. Like I said it’s a time where it seems like this warrant was treated as business as usual and I think it’s a time where a lot of people don’t see as being business as usual,” said Beatty.
U.S. Navy veteran Steven Szcurko-Walton also shared his concerns.
“I think a lot about why I served. And I think in particular how important due process is to a vital, thriving Democracy. Earlier this morning, someone was picked up by ICE, ostensibly without due process to our knowledge. I Understand that the Department of Public Safety released a statement saying that the police department has no real authority over immigration,” said Szcurko-Walton. “What I have to ask, though, is when someone is removed from the street without due process, who is that person? Who is their family? Who’s waiting for them?”
In a statement Tuesday, Police Chief Tyler McIntosh said the department provided no assistance to federal agents, but added "should a federal law enforcement agency request assistance from the SSPD, we will provide assistance consistent with our policies and procedures."
Following Tuesday evening’s meeting, Mayor John Safford said he believes ICE acted lawfully.
“Number one we are very concerned about our workers, especially at the track and want to assure as much as we can that we care and we will do the best we can under these circumstances for anyone. But, again, due process, due process. We want to make sure everything is done for citizens and non-citizens here that they—this is the United States of American and we follow due process,” said Safford.
“So you'd say that today due process was followed?“
“Yes,“ said Safford.
Coll said he believes city police have been “as transparent as possible,” and continue to protect the constitutional rights of city residents regardless of immigration status.
“That’s my understanding that they [ICE] had an administrative warrant but I found that out after the fact. They notify us that they’re coming to do enforcement action in a general area and we make sure, I tell them—I check with our police department, we make sure we aren’t doing criminal warrants on our cases so we have deconfliction and officers don’t get hurt, that’s our main objective here,” said Coll.
Terrance Diggory works with the Saratoga Immigration Coalition. He says he wasn’t surprised by Tuesday’s arrest, adding his organization is working to support the arrested individual’s family.
“We are always concerned when ICE is involved in taking people into detention. Concerned for the individuals involved, concerned for the message that it sends to the community. Our mission with the Saratoga Immigration Coalition is to cultivate a culture of welcome and, of course, activity like we had yesterday runs directly counter to that,” said Diggory.
In a statement, Immigration and Cutsoms Enforcement told WAMC it would not confirm or discuss ongoing or future operations, adding "ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws. All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality."
