Border czar’s visit leaves confusion on RPD policy

Kayla Canne and Steve Howe

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle USA TODAY NETWORK

Homan’s talk highlights divisions on immigration

Hours before U.S. border czar Tom Homan arrived at the Locust Club in Rochester on April 29, Rosanne Homzie stepped onto the sidewalk outside the police union headquarters, glanced somewhat uncertainly at the dozen or so people carrying blue line flags next to her, and unfolded a black banner: RESIST was written in bold white letters.

Homzie was there to protest Homan’s visit to Rochester amid increased deportations of immigrants and federal efforts to overturn the city’s sanctuary status.

“We might be the only ones,” she said to Kate Schiefen, who joined her.

They would not be alone for long. Dozens of protesters soon gathered across the street on Lexington Avenue as dark clouds roiled overhead, threatening an evening storm. Others set up in front of the Public Safety Building downtown and hung banners on the bridges above I-490. A third protest was planned for the steps outside City Hall that night.

The protesters were matched by dozens of Homan’s supporters, who came out to welcome the border czar and champion his relentless immigration raids. Helen Roberts was holding a sign that read, “We voted for border security.”

“The man is here,” she said. “We love him. We pray for him. It shows that he is behind our police officers.”

Homan visit underscores division, confusion over police role in immigration enforcement

What message did this visit send to the Rochester community? It depends on who you ask. Homan never addressed either crowd himself.

The border czar was quickly swept behind closed doors for a private meeting with the rankand-file officers of the Rochester Police Department and other local agencies. The Locust Club invited Homan to Rochester after 10 officers were reprimanded for removing several people from a work van and placing them in handcuffs for immigration agents during a March 24 traffic stop.

Homan did not meet with Chief David Smith or RPD command staff, who have defended the city’s sanctuary policy and repeatedly instructed officers they are not to assist with federal immigration enforcement, except in cases involving an “imminent threat to life or safety.”

The incident has sown confusion over where the police force stands. To some, Homan’s visit underscored that division.

“Call me,” he told the officers during their meeting, shown on a video uploaded to Facebook. “I’ll do anything I can to support you. That’s more than the politicians of this sanctuary city are going to do for you, because they’re putting politics over public safety.”

Outside the Locust Club, without knowing Homan’s comments, Schiefen questioned the motives of the police union.

“The police are here to protect and serve,” Schiefen said. “They serve this community and if this community has invited immigrants to be safe and to find a new life (here), then they are just as much there to protect and take care of them as they are any of us.

“Who is on our side and who’s not?” she asked. “We don’t know anymore. Are the police here to protect and serve or are the police here to arrest?”

Josie McClary, the former president of the 19th Ward Community Association and a city council candidate, said the incident was a step backward in RPD’s recent efforts to rebuild trust with the Rochester community.

“Obviously there was no knee-on-neck moment here, but they showed up and they did not follow their order, which was not to assist,” McClary said. “They actually arrested those individuals. Because of that happening, it just really now put the community right back (to that place of mistrust). It does not do the community any justice.”

Locust Club: ‘Cops support cops’

Following the visit, union leadership held a news conference to share their take on Homan’s message: “Cops support cops. First, last and always.”

Locust Club President Geoff Wiater and Vice President Paul Dondorfer maintained the union’s stance that the officers who responded to the traffic stop were not in the wrong.

“When people are calling for help, we’re going,” Wiater said. But the officers involved were not disciplined because they responded to a call for emergency backup — that is allowed under city rules — but rather because they took the lead in arresting the individuals stopped by federal immigration agents when no apparent emergency existed.

Dondorfer dismissed that argument, saying the traffic stop transitioned into an officer safety issue when the individuals inside the van refused to exit the vehicle.

What will happen if a similar situation arises in the future is still unclear.

Dondorfer said federal immigration agents know RPD officers are not allowed to help with enforcement efforts. “That’s not our job,” he said. But if they are presented with a similar safety concern, Dondorfer said they can rely on RPD for help.

“Our officers are expected to go and they are expected to back those federal agents up,” he said. “That’s exactly what they did and that’s exactly what they will continue to do moving forward.”

That, however, seems to conflict with orders from RPD command staff shortly after the March incident, which read: “If this happens again, we are not to remove people from vehicles. We are not to be handcuffing subjects. We are not to be doing pat frisks on subjects and we are absolutely not going to be detaining them or putting them into our cars.”

Wiater hinted that there is “probably a department policy issue” that needs to be addressed, but did not elaborate on what that might mean.

Police supporters heard Homan loud and clear: ‘I’ve got your back’

Others outside the Locust Club considered Homan’s visit with officers a promise to restore public safety.

“Trump and Tom Homan want to get rid of the criminals and I don’t know why the liberal media and the Democrats are opposed to murderers and child traffickers and horrible people that shouldn’t be in our country in the first place being deported,” Roberts said. “They should be deported.”

While the Trump administration has claimed they are only targeting criminals with deportation efforts, it is not clear that the assertion is true. The three individuals arrested in Rochester on March 24, for example, had no criminal background.

Still, Roberts said she supports the deportation efforts and believes law enforcement should be allowed to help.

“They were doing their job,” she said of the RPD officers.

Yvonne Donnelley took aim at the police chief, holding a sign that read, “Chief Smith is a coward.” Her uncle is a retired RPD cop.

“He’s not backing his police force,” she said about Smith. “A good leader backs their men and women. ... In order to have a safe community, you have to allow your law enforcement to do their jobs. I think he’s handcuffing his own people.”

Homan’s message to police and the community was loud and clear — despite his silence, Donnelley said: “We hear you. We see you. I’ve got your back.”

Just an hour after he arrived, Homan stepped out of the Locust Club, offered a quick wave and a thumbs up to his supporters, climbed into the middle of three black SUVs lined up to receive him, and left.