[music] Welcome to Agenda Edina, a program summarizing the actions taken at city hall that affect you most. I'm your host, Dorothia Marty. In response to community concern and uncertainty surrounding US immigration and customs enforcement activity in Minnesota, Edina city manager Scott Neil has appointed a new staff task force to help guide the city's response. The 11 member task force includes employees from multiple city departments. Its role is to assess how Adina responds to immigration related issues affecting the community and to identify actions that are legally sound, operationally feasible and responsive to community needs. The task force will bring its findings and recommendations to the city manager, executive leadership team, and when appropriate, the city council. Any potential policy changes would follow established city processes and include council review. >> The the goal of this task force is really to vet ideas that we receive from the community both from from the community and from our council. Uh we want to take those ideas, we want to vet them with with our legal counsel. We want to see what we can do uh what we should do and what we could consider doing. Uh and what's enforceable and what's merely symbolic. So, those are those are kind of the uh those are the parameters around what we're doing. >> The Dina City Council also reaffirmed its commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. >> All those in favor of adoption, readoption or affirmation of the uh Universal Declaration of Human Rights, say I >> I opposed. >> Carried. >> Some of those individuals are US citizens. Many of them are here legally. Some of them are not. Um, but all of them are human beings. Um, so I I do appreciate member Jackson you bringing up these human rights and reaffirming them here tonight. >> During its last meeting in January, the council emphasized the city's core values of dignity, fairness, and respect for all people. Building on a statement issued in December, council members acknowledged the fear and concern expressed by residents about recent federal immigration enforcement activity and said they heard clearly about the personal impact on families along with the need for timely, transparent and accessible communication from the city. >> We I do really feel like Edina is a village. it, you know, feels that way and now we need to come together and we need to really be a conduit for communication all across the city and I feel so powerless and frustrated. Um, so I hear the the fear and concerns of our residents. Um, and I'm glad that so many suggestions have come forward and I and I'm looking forward to seeing what the task force does. At the same time, the council recognized the legal complexities that arise when local and federal authorities operate in the same space. The city remains committed to protecting constitutional rights while also ensuring the safety of residents, demonstrators, and public safety personnel. >> I would like for us to have to at least think through um should we have some type of police presence? And we're not saying we're there to stop ICE from executing their orders. We might validate that they have a judicial warrant to do what they're doing, but um we're there to ensure that the rights of our residents, their rights are being honored and there are no violations of their constitutional rights. Um and those orders are being carried out in um the correct way. >> Edina is also working beyond its borders. The mayor and city leadership are actively collaborating with other suburban mayors, city managers and administrators, and police chiefs to advocate for accountability and lawful enforcement practices.