Providence City Council approves mailers teaching residents how to resist ICE operations
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The city council in Rhode Island‘s capital is backing the distribution of “Know Your Rights” mailers to residents instructing them on how to deal with law enforcement amid the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.
Households in Providence will receive a card in English and Spanish advising them of their constitutional rights if confronted by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
It instructs residents not to open the door unless officers present a valid warrant signed by a judge. The lower portion of the card can be cut, kept in a wallet, and presented to immigration enforcement, a news release announcing the campaign states.
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“The Providence City Council is partnering with organizations that represent our diverse community to promote safety and inclusion in the face of fear and uncertainty that pervades our city’s immigrant communities due to the reckless cruelty of the Trump administration,” Council President Rachel Miller said in a statement.
“For nearly 400 years, immigrants have been and continue to be vital to Providence,” she added. “The Council stands together to say immigrants are welcome here and to encourage every member of our community to educate themselves about their constitutional rights and where to find help if they need it.”
The council worked with more than a dozen local immigrant rights and advocacy groups on the mailer. The city has spent $17,000 on the mailers, a spokesperson for the council told Fox News Digital.
The Rhode Island Republican Party is demanding an investigation, noting that the council recently voted for an 8% increase in taxes.
“They’re not just ignoring their oath, they’re mocking it,” the party said in a statement. “Every member of the Council swore to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States and Rhode Island. But instead of protecting legal residents and respecting their duty, they spent your money to help those who entered the country illegally figure out how to avoid accountability.
Party Chair Jow Powers called the move “political theater” and “government malpractice.”
“The Providence City Council used public funds to push propaganda that undermines federal law, all while gouging taxpayers,” he said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “If you’re an elected official aiding lawbreakers, you don’t belong in office, you belong under investigation. Period.”
In the city’s news release, Council President Pro Tempore Juan M. Pichardo called Providence a city of immigrants,
“Nothing is more fundamental to the American experience than the right to live here peacefully and prosperously, regardless of country of origin or documentation status,” he said. “This mailer will help remind our residents of those rights and of the resources available to our immigrant communities.”
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The mailers are in response to the Trump administration’s illegal immigrant operations targeting those living in the United States illegally.
Democrats have denounced the operations, arguing they separate families and put communities at risk. Los Angeles saw multiple days of riots earlier this month after ICE agents arrested multiple illegal immigrants, many with criminal records, during several operations in and around the city.
Fox News’ Brooke Taylor contributed to this report.