( Cincinnati ) - "This city has been for many years and will remain a sanctuary city." That statement was posted on Mayor John Cranley's Twitter account just moments before an event at city hall calling for solidarity with immigrants.
Flanked by members of Cincinnati City Council, the police department, Hamilton County Commissioners, the Archdiocese, the Council on American Islamic Relations, and more, Mayor Cranley called the current efforts to restrict refugees, particularly from Syria, similar to the US refusing to take in Jewish refugees in the runup to the Holocaust.
City Councilman PG Sittenfeld spoke of his European ancestors who died in the Holocaust, saying "compassion and spreading freedom are in no way incompatible with preserving public safety." Hamilton County Commissioners Todd Portune and Denise Driehaus were also present, with Commissioner Portune saying he's directed the sheriff to make sure the jail isn't used to "give practice to a declaration that we all know is un-American and is illegal."