Anchorage Assembly meeting turns into anti-ICE spectacle, but one member’s mic is cut when he defends ICE

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Feb. 4, 2026 – At Tuesday night’s Anchorage Assembly meeting, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance stepped further into the growing national immigration debate to reassure residents that Anchorage police will not participate in federal immigration enforcement — comments that oversimplify the actual relationship between local and federal law enforcement.

The mayor addressed an Assembly resolution opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, telling the public that people in the community are fearful about immigration enforcement actions happening nationally.

“The government’s most important job is to keep people safe,” LaFrance said, adding that Anchorage residents should not be afraid to exercise constitutional rights.

She emphasized that Anchorage Police Department officers do not enforce federal immigration law.

“Federal officers enforce federal immigration law. Not Anchorage police officers,” she said. “APD enforces local and state laws. It has no role in or authority over federal immigration enforcement activities.” She did not indicate there is a formal policy.

LaFrance said police and fire services respond to all reports of crime regardless of immigration status, and that city services are committed to the dignity and safety of all residents, no matter their background or country of origin.

While the mayor’s remarks may have been intended as reassurance, legal experts note that the reality of federal and local law enforcement authority is far more complex than the bright line LaFrance drew.

State and local officers are generally allowed to enforce federal criminal law in many circumstances, and local agencies often cooperate voluntarily with federal authorities through task forces and joint operations.

What the federal government cannot do is force local agencies to enforce federal programs — a principle established by the Supreme Court in Printz v. United States (1997), which held that Congress cannot “commandeer” local officials into federal service.

But voluntary cooperation is permitted, and in many jurisdictions it is routine.

Civil immigration enforcement is a more limited area, where local police generally do not have authority unless formally deputized through programs such as ICE’s 287(g) agreements. Criminal immigration violations, however, can overlap with other enforcement priorities.

In short, local law enforcement is not categorically barred from assisting federal enforcement — but neither can it be compelled to do so.

The resolution, sponsored by Assembly members Erin Baldwin-Day, Yarrow Silvers, and Daniel Volland, ultimately passed later in the meeting on a vote of 9-3. It calls on Alaska’s congressional delegation to pursue immigration enforcement reform.

The members who favored it framed the measure not as immigration policy, but as a statement about constitutional rights and government accountability.

Silvers launched into an extended denunciation of ICE, claiming the agency’s expansion is bringing “chaos to our streets” and accusing it of “waging war on the American people.”

She alleged human rights violations, claiming without evidence that “people are disappearing off the streets” into detention facilities, including “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Her remarks suggested ICE agents are “gunning down citizens in the streets,” a level of rhetoric that borders on hysteria.

Missing from the speeches was the basic reality that law enforcement encounters sometimes involve armed resistance, and when officers have weapons pulled on them, shootings will happen, and are investigated under existing legal frameworks.

Assembly member Daniel Volland argued Anchorage has seen a surge in ICE activity, citing detention numbers held in Alaska correctional facilities.

He said Alaska institutions held 13 individuals for immigration-related matters in 2024, compared with 99 individuals from 2025 through January 2026, which he called a seven-fold increase, portraying that as a bad thing.

“I believe we have reached a precipice,” Volland said. “Continuing to fund unconstitutional activities may in itself present a constitutional failing.”

Eagle River Assemblyman Jared Goecker attempted to offer a contrasting perspective, beginning to speak about ICE’s role in combating child trafficking, drug trafficking, and serious crime across America.

But as he began, his microphone was abruptly cut, leaving online viewers unable to hear the bulk of his remarks.

Those watching remotely found the timing difficult to dismiss as coincidence, especially during a meeting dominated by one-sided speeches condemning federal enforcement.

The Anchorage Assembly has increasingly used meeting time to weigh in on national political controversies far outside municipal jurisdiction.