‘Necessary’ or harmful? Emails show anti-immigrant fear shaped Eagle’s nonsanctuary move

Earlier this year, an Eagle woman stood in front of the City Council. She’d seen a widely circulated video showing Latino people at a strip mall in Ada County — people she believed were immigrants who lacked legal status in the United States.

They turned out to be temporary visa workers, legally allowed to be in and work in the U.S., according to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.

But she wasn’t alone in her concern.

Another woman at the same meeting presented a resolution to the City Council. She wanted officials to express their concerns with immigration and to declare not to authorize taxpayer resources to help those who are undocumented.

The next day, May 29, an Eagle couple sent an email to the council listing paragraphs of issues they had with immigration, and citing articles and concerns about what they said could happen in the Treasure Valley.

The two attached a resolution related to services for immigrants in the country illegally, based on one enacted in Arizona, that they wanted the city to pass.

Over the next days and weeks, dozens of people in this city of roughly 32,000 emailed in support of the resolution, sometimes using the exact same language in their emails, in what apparently was a coordinated campaign.

The Idaho Statesman obtained this correspondence through a public records request with the city of Eagle, and wound up with approximately 215 documents, including a transcript of a voicemail.

On June 11, City Council President Helen Russell embraced a resolution during that night’s council meeting.

“Your concerns have been heard,” Russell wrote on June 12 to another Eagle resident who used the same text as the couple’s email. “We as a City will do what we legally can.”

Russell did not return a request from the Statesman for comment.

But legally, what the city can do isn’t much. The resolution as it stands will not have much of an impact, because immigrants without legal status are not eligible for most public programs and make up only 2% of Idaho’s population, according to previous Statesman reporting .

Immigration, both legal and otherwise, has long been a contentious issue in the U.S. It’s a hot topic again during this year’s presidential race, with the parties trading blame for problems at the southern border.

Some of the Eagle emails revealed prejudice toward immigrants, half of whom nationwide are Latino , and frustration with what the writers labeled President Joe Biden’s border policies. The ACLU of Idaho has already said it expects immigrants of any status and Latinos in Idaho to be grouped together and attacked, according to previous Statesman reporting .

“I strongly oppose using our taxes dollars to support immigrants in our city,” one woman wrote. “I vote NO!!!!.”

What drives immigration fears?

In March, the mayor and a council member in Bullhead, Arizona, spearheaded a resolution expressing concern about immigrants in the country without permanent legal status. They called on President Biden to do something, according to city documents and local media reports.

The Arizona resolution said that many such immigrants create “the most unreasonable burdens.” It was that resolution that inspired people in Eagle, according to the emails to the city.

“The City Council … finds that those who pay income and other taxes and follow the laws of the land have been unfairly exploited,” read the Arizona resolution. “The City Council … affirms the importance of securing the border and enforcing immigration laws to protect the community.”

Immigration has always been a complex issue that in many ways cuts across identity lines. For example, there are many Latino voters in the United States who want more to be done both with pathways to legal immigration and protection along the southern border, according to polling reported by CBS News.

Some Latinos worry that the subject of immigration and corresponding anti-immigrant rhetoric will impact their own well-being, according to an Axios story in the spring.

America is a nation built on immigration, with the foundational idea of a “melting pot” and the famous lines on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But immigrants have often faced discrimination in America, if they were even allowed to enter the country , according to the Library of Congress.

In immigration discussions now, fear is the central emotion, according to Lisa Meierotto, associate professor in the school of public service at Boise State University. There are three main fears: economic fears that immigrants will take jobs and social services; safety fears that immigrants bring more crime; and a fear of demographic change.

The first two are unfounded, she said, pointing to evidence that shows immigrants contribute to a growing workforce, pay taxes, input more into social services than they take out and are less likely to be incarcerated. But the third is more of a misperception — the country’s demographics are indeed changing — than a genuine fear.

“Is there some inherent fear of change or fear of strangers? I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s literature to support that,” Meierotto said. “The things that we are hearing right now, these perceptions of immigrants, are just really bad politically motivated misinformation.”

The results of politically motivated fear

And there are potential harms to that rhetoric — including to Latino people who have been in Idaho for generations, Meierotto said.

One study found that U.S.-born Latinos feel anxious in response to anti-immigrant rhetoric, according to the Brookings Institute.

The action in Eagle was not supported by all residents, including some who recognized what Meierotto and that study alluded to.

“This decision, based on unfounded rumors, puts our immigrant community in Eagle at risk and sows fear and division among our residents,” one man wrote to the Eagle City Council, one of just a few documents opposing the resolution. “Anti-sanctuary policies harm not only immigrants but also the broader community.”

In Bullhead, a local outlet reported that the mayor said the only money he’d spend on an undocumented immigrant in the country was bus fare out of town.

Eagle residents echoed these sentiments, and much more. One woman said she wouldn’t want food, water or housing provided to anyone in the country without legal status. Another woman wrote that she didn’t even want refugees coming to Idaho.

“Please stop the illegal immigration to Eagle,” one person wrote. “A lot of these people are nefarious and probably will never assimilate into our society.”

Russell, at the June 11 council meeting, acknowledged the numerous emails and phone calls the city had received about “illegal migrants.”

“As we all know, our national security is in shambles and here in the city of Eagle, we must do what we can to protect and provide for our citizens,” Russell said at the beginning of the meeting, calling people “illegal alien criminals.”

“The citizens have called for action, and for protection of their tax dollars.”

The crowd applauded.

What’s next

The audience sat silently the night of July 9 while the council prepared to go over the night’s business. On the agenda was the nonsanctuary city resolution.

One Eagle man warned the city that he would be bringing former Ada County sheriff candidate Doug Traubel to the event to make sure Eagle upheld the law.

A previous Traubel candidacy raised numerous concerns, as he parroted Nazi propaganda that Jews “were the villain class in the Soviet Union” because they “led the Bolshevik revolution.” In an interview with county commissioners, he couldn’t back up a previous claim that “at least 50%” of rape allegations are false.

In a letter to the editor of the Statesman, Traubel wrote that liberals were ready to replace the U.S. “with a Marxist tyranny run by Godless bureaucratic elites.”

But the Eagle man didn’t have to worry. Both Brad Pike, the mayor, and City Council member Melissa Gindlesperger said in emails to constituents that they supported the measure. Neither returned a request for comment.

Eagle’s council passed the resolution without comment that night. Critics say it puts the immigrant community at risk and creates division, while being a solution in search of a problem.

At least one notable local resident, though not an Eagle taxpayer, approved of the move — and apparently wants to take it a step further.

In a voicemail left with the city on July 20, the Rev. Bill Roscoe, Boise Rescue Mission CEO, told Eagle city officials that they made an “outstanding decision.” Roscoe, whose organization helped Ukrainian refugees , declined to comment to the Statesman.

“Absolutely necessary in the times that we’re living in right now,” Roscoe said in the voicemail. “We intend to let our Mayor Simison and Meridian know that we think Meridian should follow suit.”