EASTON, Pa. – Easton City Council voted Tuesday night to once again table a resolution supporting and protecting immigrant communities.

That vote occurred after a heated debate led by Councilmember Taiba Sultana who wanted the resolution passed immediately.

Last month, council also tabled the resolution which suggests that city officials and employees should not provide an individual’s citizenship or immigration information to any federal immigration enforcement agency offices unless required by federal or state law or a court order.

No one on council objected to the nature of the resolution (see page 36) but only raised concerns regarding the language.

Councilmember Crystal Rose asked for the resolution to be tabled to give her time to add some language about supporting legal pathways to citizenship.

Rose said she started thinking about adding to the resolution after attending a municipal conference last week.

“I would like to add language that supports legal immigration pathways and eventual citizenship and helps reflect those needs and aligns the resolution with what’s happening across our region and country,” Rose said. “I’m working with the National Immigration Forum in D.C., a bipartisan national organization, to make sure we have accurate data and clear, well-crafted language added to the resolution.”

Rose explained she needed the additional time because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

“I would hope to have that language to add to the resolution to everyone by next week,” she said. “I’m not trying to postpone it, but it’s something I really had some thoughtful discussions with elected officials at different levels last week. So, as we hope to take this resolution and encourage our elected officials at higher levels of government to actually do something about the issues that we’re having.”

Sultana objected to Rose’s request and asked that the council move on with passing the resolution and maybe amend it later.

The administration also requested that it have additional time to review the language.

Other councilmembers noted that council passed a similar resolution in 2017 and said there was no harm in delaying a vote to make sure that the language is correct.

“And why didn’t anybody introduce the language they wanted?” Sultana asked. “I mean, it came back (to the agenda) after it was tabled for four weeks.”

Sultana made a comment that she believed the resolution was being postponed on purpose.

“It was not on purpose,” Rose said. “How dare you accuse me of that?”

“It’s not about any councilmember; it’s about the vulnerable communities,” Sultana said. “”his is not an ordinance. It’s a bare minimum that we can do to just pass a resolution. It’s a statement telling the community that we stand with you in solidarity.”

Sultana said her fear was that in tabling the resolution, when it comes back on the table, another councilmember will then make additional suggestions forcing yet another delay.

Council tabled the resolution with the stipulation that it be brought back for a vote on Dec. 10.

Several residents spoke on the topic, insisting that council vote on the resolution Tuesday night.

Dominic Trabosci said adopting the resolution would signal solidarity to what he described as the vulnerable immigrant population.

“We will continue to show up with or without this council whenever we see injustices in the world,” Trabosci said. “In the event that our elected officials fail us, we will fight. So long as we live in an unjust world, we will fight.”

“I wish that I could be standing here on the cusp of a vote for a proper ordinance, but kicking the can down the road has led us to this resolution,” he added. “Even still, we seek this act of solidarity on council to assure the city of Easton that this government is on the side of the people, not the side of bending the knee or turning a blind eye to the alarming rise of fascism before us.”

“Symbolic as a resolution may be, a symbol can be a powerful thing, and it’s certainly better than silence,” Trabosci said. “We have a lot of work to do to slow the damage of this destructive federal administration. But the longer we normalize these governmental acts of violence and the longer we pretend there isn’t anything, the quicker our downfall will be.”

Park renaming

We’re finding out what an Easton park will look like after it’s fixed up.

In other business, council voted to rename Nesquehoning Park to The Clarine Boyer and Frances Ketchen Nesquehoning Park.

Councilmember Ken Brown said he wanted to rename the park in honor of two very strong women in the community who he called trailblazers.