Members of the Ithaca Common Council voted Wednesday night to reaffirm the city's status as a sanctuary city.

They said that means a pledge to not discriminate and to foster a welcoming environment for everyone. The ordinance highlights a continued commitment to the protection of human rights for immigrants, as well as individual's reproductive rights and gender-affirming care.

It comes amid a flurry of executive orders coming from The White House that threaten or challenge the issues.

In February 2017, the common council unanimously adopted the title of a sanctuary city. 

The text of the resolution reads in part that a July 2022 ordinance recognized "the importance of fostering a city that is welcoming and inclusive for all individuals, regardless of nationality or citizenship status and to ensure, to the greatest extent permitted by law, that immigration enforcement is a function of the federal government and not the City of Ithaca."

President Donald Trump said in September before being elected that he will “ask Congress to pass a law outlawing sanctuary cities nationwide and we demand the full weight of the federal government on any jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate with ICE."