Recognizing immigrants’ important contributions to Astoria, the City Council adopted a resolution Tuesday reaffirming the city’s policy of inclusivity.

But council members acknowledged the resolution cannot stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from apprehending and deporting the community’s undocumented immigrants.

The inclusivity resolution comes amid President Donald Trump’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration. Since Trump took office, ICE, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has ramped up raids, detainments and deportation, efforts the president claims protects American citizens. Trump signed the second draft of an executive order Monday restricting citizens from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

An earlier version of the Astoria resolution, read at a previous council meeting, would have precluded the city from providing a copy of Municipal Court dockets to ICE, which requests the documents electronically, City Manager Brett Estes said. The city must freely provide these public records by statute, since to refuse would violate open records law.

Jorge Gutierrez, the executive director of the Lower Columbia Hispanic Council, helped City Attorney Blair Henningsgaard revise the document, which was initially drafted by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and Causa, an immigrants’ rights advocacy group.

The final version reads, “except as required by law, no city agency or employee shall use monies or equipment to detect or apprehend persons whose only violation involves a federal immigration law.”

In addition, “except as required by federal or state law, no city services or benefits of any kind shall be conditioned upon a resident’s federal immigration status.”

These clauses, like the rest of the resolution, reflect existing city practice.

The resolution does not make Astoria a “sanctuary city,” a general term describing cities that seek to protect undocumented immigrants from federal immigration policies.

Though Mayor Arline LaMear has expressed support for Astoria’s Hispanic community, she said in December that the city would likely not seek sanctuary city status. Gutierrez, who endorsed the final draft of the resolution, advised her that the designation could polarize the community.

City Councilor Cindy Price said she “really couldn’t be prouder” to approve the city’s inclusivity resolution.

“I think that the current immigration efforts that are being made are cruel,” she said. “They go beyond what we have known for many years throughout Republican and Democratic administrations.”

She urged the immigrant community “to do everything you can” to comply with the law and become documented. Undocumented immigrants with families, and those caught in the justice system, should “make plans, just in case, because this is not a great time,” she said.

“This resolution, really, is something that shows our support for our immigrant community but cannot do much,” she said, adding: “ICE doesn’t need to have local law enforcement help them apprehend people. They know where you live. They know where you work. They know how to find you. They have access to all the public records. So please be safe.”

City Councilor Tom Brownson, who said he agrees with Price’s assessment, said one of his constituents expressed concern that the resolution, which celebrates “immigrants and refugees of all nations,” does not distinguish between “legal” and “illegal” immigrants.

The councilor said he suspects others in the community are sympathetic to this view, but “in my opinion, it’s not the city’s business to make this distinction.”

“It is more important to make clear that we support all the people that contribute to the good of our community and our city,” he said.