One of President-elect Donald Trump’s biggest campaign promises was to enact stricter immigration policies. That has caused concern for the Jackson community, a town with a large immigrant population. Immigration laws are outside of the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, but Mayor-elect Pete Muldoon said the town could pass a resolution or ordinance to limit its cooperation with federal authorities.
Right now there’s an agreement between Teton County Jail and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to notify the federal government when an undocumented immigrant gets arrested. But Muldoon said he doesn’t believe local law enforcement is interested in acting as a deportation force.
“It’s not that we think locally there is this appetite to do it,” said Muldoon. “I just believe that it’s important to make it clear to people that live here in town and who are understandably very concerned and frightened, we considered everybody to be members of the community.”
Muldoon said the resolution is still being drafted, but experts in immigration law are helping to come up with specific language. To be enacted, the resolution would need to be approved by the city council.