ADRIAN — Three weeks after two local men were arrested by federal immigration agents in front of a crowd of witnesses across from Comstock Park, speakers at the July 7 Adrian City Commission meeting continued pressing the city to find ways to protect residents’ rights to due process under the law.

Some talked about the men who were taken on June 14, saying that one was eventually released — and despite having been arrested by armed federal agents, has not been charged with any crime — while the other man still has not had a hearing. Others spoke of family members who were born in the U.S. feeling they need to carry papers with them out of fear that they will be harassed or arrested by federal agents because of their ethnicity, following multiple recent reports of citizens and lawful permanent residents being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Many repeated the calls that commissioners heard on June 16 for the city to adopt policies pushing for residents’ rights to be protected.

“If you truly hear us, where’s the followthrough? Where’s the action? Because words without action are just noise,” Allie Quinn of Adrian said.

Aaron Chesher of Adrian said there are several things Adrian can do that would not involve breaking any federal laws. He said these include not asking anyone about their immigration status unless required by law, and not holding anyone for ICE unless agents are able to supply a warrant signed by a judge. He said a climate of fear makes the community less safe.

“When fear grows, public trust fades,” he said. “People stop reporting crimes. They avoid public spaces. It doesn’t make us safer, it makes us weaker.”

Of 10 people who spoke about the arrests during the public comment period of the July 7 meeting, nine called for Adrian to protect residents from ICE, while one, Keith Miller of Adrian, said police officers on the scene should have helped the agents instead.

City commissioner Bob Behnke talked about a recent visit to Amsterdam where he visited Holocaust sites, including the place where Anne Frank and her family lived in hiding. He said that visit reminded him of the ways local governments, such as the government of Amsterdam, were complicit in the persecution of Jewish people and others.

“As the laws changed, more restrictions were implemented, and the local bureaucracy became part of the machinery of evil,” he said.

“We in the city of Adrian must take this to heart,” he added. “We cannot be silent witnesses. We cannot afford the comfort of neutrality when fear is stalking our neighbors and our fellow parishioners.”

“This is not about undermining law enforcement,” he said, “but about ensuring that all operations uphold transparency, accountability, and trust of our community.”

Mayor Angela Sword Heath said the city is already following what practices it can to protect residents’ civil rights, but cautioned against doing anything that might make the city a target.

“That is the last thing we want to do to our citizens,” she said.

asked police chief Vince Emrick to describe what Adrian police did to verify the identity of the agents who arrested the two men on June 14. 

Emrick said the officer on the scene contacted his supervisor, who came to the parking lot with another officer and called Lenawee County dispatch, asking the dispatcher to contact ICE and confirm that the agents were real. However, he said the plainclothes agents are cause for concern.

“I know that vehicles and markings were plainclothes, and a lot of that is a concern because now there are copycats out there doing the same thing,” he said. 

Emrick said that if anyone has a question about the identity of someone claiming to be an ICE agent, they can contact Adrian police.

“f there is a concern, definitely get in touch with us and we can verify those things,” he said.