Cleveland.Com (Ohio)
By Ryllie Danylko
July 29, 2015
Painesville
city officials are aggressively denying claims that the city is a
sanctuary for illegal immigrants days after investigators say an
undocumented immigrant who
was living in Painesville committed a murder.
A
statement was released after city officials were flooded with calls
criticizing a policy that protects illegal immigrants -- a policy that
Painesville City Manager Anthony
Carson says never existed.
A
sanctuary city is a city that protects undocumented immigrants from
deportation by following certain procedures to shelter them, either by
law or by action, according
to the Center for Immigration Studies. Sanctuary cities often refuse to
comply with federal deportation policies.
A
statement posted Wednesday on the city's website references a
resolution passed in 2008 acknowledging the city's intent to cooperate
with and enforce U.S. immigration
laws. Similar notices were posted the Facebook pages for the city and
its police department.
The
posts went up two days after investigators say 35-year-old Juan
Emmanuel Rozo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, shot and killed
Margaret Kostelnik in her Concord
Township home. Razo is also accused in an attempted rape of a
14-year-old girl and the second shooting of another woman the same day.
Carson
said these incidents created a "heightened awareness" of the city's
stance on illegal immigration. The city manager said Painesville never
considered itself a sanctuary,
and that most people who think otherwise got their information online.
City
employees have spent the past two days reaching out to websites that
name Painesville as a sanctuary city and asking them to fix the error.
A
website that calls itself a "Sanctuary City Information Resource" still
had Painesville on its list as of Wednesday afternoon, but added a note
saying the city refuted
that status.
Officials reached out to two other sites that incorrectly named Painesville as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.
An
advocate at grassroots organization for the Hispanic community in
Northeast Ohio on Wednesday said Razo has been waiting for a green card
for 12 years. Razo's father
filed for U.S. citizenship for his son more than a decade ago,
according to a spokeswoman at HOLA Ohio.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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