I love this city. I love our resilience and the way we celebrate our heritage together, from Cinco de Mayo to Día de los Muertos. For the safety of our entire community, the Ogden Police Department’s engagement with ICE must NOT HAPPEN.

When local police act as immigration agents, we all lose. It creates a dangerous “chilling effect” where victims and witnesses are terrified to come forward. When people are afraid to report a crime because of their status, criminals stay on the streets, making Ogden less safe for everyone. Our local law enforcement should focus on public safety and local crimes, not on enforcing civil immigration laws with our local tax dollars. We must remember: immigration violations are administrative “paperwork” matters, not violent crimes.

ICE has a documented history of Fourth Amendment violations, using deceptive practices and non-judicial warrants that tear families apart. The data is clear: the National Institute of Justice found that undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born citizens for violent crimes. Higher immigrant populations are associated with hardworking families, not higher crime rates.

I am a daughter of immigrants. We pay taxes, we contribute to this economy, and we love this city. We just want to feel safe in the place we call home.

I advocate for adopting and enforcing sanctuary policies now more than ever. Being a sanctuary city is a common sense safety strategy. It ensures that an undocumented mother can call 911 during an emergency without the fear that her life will be uprooted. Statistics prove that sanctuary counties are actually safer and have higher economic stability. By drawing a clear line between local police and federal immigration agents, we protect the constitutional rights of all our residents and uphold the Tenth Amendment, allowing us to decide how our own tax dollars are spent.

Camila Becerril

Ogden