I’m writing in response to an editorial, “New London already protecting the rights of its residents,” (March 22). As a New London citizen and member of the grassroots initiative People Power, we’ve been working for several months with the mayor’s office and police to affirm our commitment to treat fairly those residents (some undocumented) fearful of an overzealous federal immigration agency. 

We’re not doing this to make a political statement against the president. There are law-abiding, hard-working immigrant families who rightfully feel threatened right now. Through this resolution we hope to provide them greater trust in our community. When crimes go unreported because immigrants don’t trust police, we’re all less safe. (This statistic has been well-documented since 2017.) 

Also, there’s negligible risk in this measure — Attorney General Jeff Sessions has larger problems to worry about than New London enacting a non-binding resolution that complies with both state and federal law. Withdrawal of federal funding for law enforcement in response has been shown meritless, considering 10th Amendment violations. Finally, the fact that there’s informal police policy similar to our resolution should be a reason for (not against) codifying those policies as a statement of our city’s values.

Paul Rubin

New London