CINCINNATI — The city of Cincinnati declared itself a sanctuary city in 2017. It's a label used for cities that have welcoming resources or policies in place for immigrants. But exactly how the city is doing this is still unclear.
Cincinnati Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney filed two motions in January 2025. Kearney requested reports within 90 days on how the city is currently supporting immigrant communities.
The motion lays out four suggestions for ways the city can provide information and resources:
- Create a "Know Your Rights" reference in multiple languages, including but not limited to Spanish and English on the city's website to help immigrant families
- Create a link on the city's website to Compass and other resource groups
- Create a Hispanic Employee Resource Group to meet monthly and address ways to increase Hispanic representation across all departments
- Create information on the city's website about anti-bullying programs in schools, as well as the process for reporting and addressing hate crimes
Kearney also requested a report within 60 days on what resources and mechanisms are in place for the public to report hate crimes, including the existence of any hate crime hotline, whether any collected data is available to the public and what policies are in place for reporting data on hate crimes.
On Monday, WCPO 9 learned that as the initial 60-day deadline is approaching, the report is still not complete.
“I understand we’re supposed to get that report soon," Kearney told WCPO. "So, I hope soon means maybe today, but I don’t know. But it should be soon.
Watch Kearney's update on the city's support of immigrants living in Cincinnati below:
While many of the Trump administration's efforts to punish sanctuary cities are still making their way through the courts, President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order directing federal law enforcement to make a list of cities and states that aren't complying with federal immigration laws.
In 2017, city council, under a completely different group of people and a different mayor, declared Cincinnati a "sanctuary city," a status which hasn't been officially disputed since.
The 2017 resolution, passed by a 6-2 vote, says officials want the city of Cincinnati "to be a welcoming and inclusive city for all immigrants to live, work, or visit." The resolution was introduced by then-council member Wendell Young.
There is not a single definition for “sanctuary city" or “sanctuary jurisdiction." It is a colloquial term used by politicians and law enforcement officials to describe areas that do not fully adhere to Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests for the areas — counties, municipalities or states — to hold and turn over a person suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
The city of Cincinnati maintains it will follow all laws. But city officials insist local law enforcement, both on a city and state level, will have no role in aiding federal immigration enforcement.
“We want to pull everything together," Kearney said. "Just to see what we have available because sometimes when you’re in a crisis, you don’t know where to go. So, let’s make sure the city is providing those avenues.”
