Saugerties Police Chief Says No to Sanctuary City

The term Sanctuary City has been a pretty hot topic over the last few months and it looks like local officials in the Town of Saugerties are passing on the label.

According to the Hudson Valley News Network, Saugerties Supervisor Greg Helsmoortel has said that Emma Kreyche, an employee from the Kingston based Worker Justice Center of New York pitched the idea late last week to the Town and that it is not expected to advance.

He went on to say that, “We’re not going to take a vote on it unless a town board member brought it up, which I don’t foresee.”

Police Chief Joseph Sinagra also rejected the label saying that, “We’re the law. That’s not an option that we have, nor is it an option that we should ever explore, you don’t break the law and then say the ends justify the means."

“My problem is you can’t say, ‘Yes, we’re going to call ourselves something by definition that in a roundabout way says we’re going to break the law and not participate with the law.”

Sanctuary City is a name given to a city in the United States that follows certain procedures that shelters illegal immigrants and is most commonly used for cities that do not permit municipal funds or resources to be applied in furtherance of enforcement of federal immigration laws, according to Wikipedia.