AURORA | Amid what has been a wobbly week for the Trump administration’s attempts to punish so-called sanctuary cities, Aurora officials moved ahead at a city council policy committee meeting Wednesday with a resolution declaring Aurora is neither a sanctuary city nor a “sanctuary jurisdiction.”

At a regular meeting of the city committee that deals with public relations,  Councilwoman Angela Lawson introduced a draft resolution that affirms Aurora is not a “sanctuary city,” rejects any such claims to the contrary, and posits the city’s local law enforcement agencies will continue not to obstruct the work of Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement.

The council members on the policy committee, Charlie Richardson, Barb Cleland and Marsha Berzins, agreed to send the proposed measure to the floor at a regular council meeting for debate. Janice Napper, assistant city manager, intimated the item could appear on the agenda for the May 14 council meeting.

The resolution, which Lawson helped draft with the aid of the city’s attorneys, is the upshot of comments Lawson and others made at a special study session of council March 27. It was at that meeting Lawson originally pushed for the city to introduce a resolution formally rejecting Aurora’s status as a so-called sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.

At that March meeting, council members heard presentations from the chief of police, the city’s court administrator and the top city attorney regarding Aurora’s long-standing immigration policies. All of the presentations underscored the fact that Aurora is in compliance with federal law and does not in any way impede federal agencies such as ICE from contacting or detaining anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. However, Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz affirmed local cops do not actively seek out undocumented immigrants for potential deportation.

Lawson and other city officials have said they received an onslaught of criticism following the call for the resolution that was officially made public at the committee meeting Wednesday.

Several local groups that advocate for illegal immigrants, including the Colorado People’s Alliance, have condemned the city’s apparent allergy to its lingering status as a supposed haven for illegal aliens. Several dozen protestors demonstrated in front of city hall during last month’s special meeting.

At the committee meeting Wednesday, council members — those on the committee and several who attended on their own prerogative — were split on their acceptance of the resolution. Both Cleland and Richardson vocally denounced the measure as unnecessary, though they and others agreed the item should be debated before the full council.

“For me, I’m not sure that this is the time that our city should be reinforcing vague and undefined divisive policies,” Cleland said. “… This is a time that I think we should be trying to work to bring the city together and not necessarily have it be divisive.”

Richardson, who serves as chairman of the public relations committee, said the measure would have made more sense if it were brought up several months ago.

“I think this type of resolution would have had some merit a couple months ago when the situation was really up in the air,” he said. “… Now as a result of several meetings and a lot of paperwork, I think we know for sure what our police department is doing, which I concur with, and I think we’re getting a pretty good idea of what the federal government is doing. And I’m personally convinced that we are not going to be a target — unlike the nine cities and/or counties that are a target from what I’m able to perceive.”

Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Alan Hanson sent a letter to nine supposed sanctuary cities across the U.S. last week, asking them to confirm that they are in accordance with U.S. Code 1373, which states that a local government can’t craft rules that would bar officials from communicating with a federal entity. The letters were sent to the Mayors of Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia and other city officials across the country.

Recent updates from the Department of Justice have indicated that a violation of U.S.C. 1373 is what the new administration is using to gauge a municipality’s status as a sanctuary city. Aurora officials have expressed that they are in compliance with the measure.

“We stated at the study session, from the police chief to the court administrator to our city attorney … that we’re in compliance with 1373,” said Councilwoman Francoise Bergan, who is not on the committee but attended the meeting. Bergan said she supports Lawson’s resolution.

Yesterday, a federal judge in San Francisco struck down a part of President Trump’s Executive Order from earlier this year that called to withhold federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities.

But despite an ostensible lack of support for the new resolution, Lawson was steadfast in her support for the measure.

“I have to move forward with this — whatever it’s going to be on the floor — because I believe in this,” she said. “… It’s really telling that we are in compliance with the current immigration laws in our city. And so I would just like for it to move forward to the floor, whatever the outcome is.

“It would be a good discussion, a good debate and whatever’s going to be is going to be on this resolution.”

Councilwoman Sally Mounier, who also attended the meeting, said she would support the measure.

“This resolution is of grave importance to me,” said Mounier, whose Ward I boasts the city’s highest proportion of foreign-born residents. “The fact that we’re stating a principle that we’re not a sanctuary city, that we do support our immigration laws, is perfectly acceptable to me.”

After agreeing to move the resolution to the full council, officials agreed to have a translator onsite at the meeting when the topic is eventually addressed. The city will also have hard copies of the resolution available for the public to read prior to the meeting.

The city has sporadically explored its status as a supposed haven for illegal immigrants over the years, sending letters to federal agencies and congressional delegates affirming that Aurora is not harboring illegal immigrants and vehemently following all state, federal and local laws. This most recent examination at the subject arose after council members saw a segment on the former Fox News program “The O’Reilly Factor,” that condemned Aurora, Boulder and Denver for various immigration policies.

Often touted as a bastion of diversity, about 20 percent of the city’s roughly 360,000 residents were born in another country, according to demographic data compiled by the city.