Immigrant rights advocates gathered in the lobby of Grand Rapids City Hall on Tuesday afternoon to state their claim that the Grand Rapids Police Department is coordinating with federal immigration authorities, including ICE, despite city policies against doing so.

“The mayor and the chief of police have been repeatedly telling us since January of 2025 that GRPD is not cooperating with ICE, and we’re saying that that’s a bold-faced lie because we are seeing it on a regular basis firsthand,” said Jeff Smith, an organizer with GR Rapid Response to ICE. 

A GRPD spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Michigan Advance that the department  “is neither responsible for, nor has the authority to, enforce federal civil immigration laws used to detain or remove undocumented immigrants from the United States” and does not take on the responsibility of performing immigration functions unrelated to investigating and enforcing criminal violations. 

Smith specifically referenced an instance about two weeks ago in which activists with his organization were gathered outside the ICE office in downtown Grand Rapids — they knew ICE had detained someone and were waiting to see what was going to happen to that person. When the building’s garage opened, a van owned by GEO Group — which runs the ICE detention facility in Baldwin, Mich., the biggest in the Midwest — was exiting, seemingly to transport individuals to that facility.

 

“We were blocking their escape because we see what they’re doing as immoral, unjust, and again creates more family separation and trauma,” Smith explained. “Part of our work as rapid response is to try to intervene and disrupt ICE’s ability to abduct people from our community.”

He continued on to say that Grand Rapids police officers were already waiting at the site and prevented the activists from blocking the van, stating that the officers also threatened them with arrest and said they would be forcibly removed from the scene. 

“GRPD does respond to incidents where there is an element of public safety or criminal activity (for example, trespassing, illegally blocking roads, etc.) which aligns with our law enforcement responsibilities, regardless of the involved parties,” the GRPD spokesperson said. 

GRPD policies state that “Officers may provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency posing an immediate danger to the public safety or to the federal agents,” as well as that “If a non-emergency request is made by federal immigration authorities the department may provide available support services, such as traffic control or peacekeeping efforts, upon approval of the Chief of Police or a Deputy Chief of Police.”

“This is showing a coordination between ICE, GEO transportation and GRPD. We broadcast everything through our Facebook live, even though GRPD continues to deny coordination with ICE, the evidence is showing the contrary,” Nerida Aviles, an organizer with Movimiento Cosecha GR, said. “City resources should not be used to support ICE’s violence, transit and lawless actions.”

Lauren Coman, an organizer with No Detention Centers Michigan, added that the GRPD’s presence at the scene of incidents such as this, as well as at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office in the city — which is home to an “alternative to detention” program run by ICE, where a number of immigration arrests have been made — that they are facilitating the transportation of detainees directly to the North Lake Processing Facility in Baldwin.

“ICE will continue to capture our community members and police agencies, just like the GRPD and the Kent County Sheriff’s Office, will continue to normalize this campaign of terror,” Coman continued. “We say no more. Stop the killings. Stop the kidnappings. Enact true sanctuary policies in Grand Rapids and Kent County for your neighbors to shut down North Lake and abolish ICE.”

Aviles, as well as Gema Lowe, another organizer with Movimiento Cosecha GR, also emphasized their dissatisfaction with Mayor David LaGrand’s response. They said LaGrand has been unresponsive to their concerns and requests to meet with him.