Rochester City Councilmember Stanley Martin is calling on Mayor Malik Evans and RPD Chief David Smith to fire the officers that assisted border patrol agents in a recent incident involving immigrants, in what city leaders said was a violation of department policy. 

The incident in question took place Monday evening and involved Border Patrol requesting an emergency response to a traffic stop of a van. Rochester Police Chief David Smith said body-worn camera shows the RPD supervisor on the scene giving specific directions to RPD officers and making sure the Border Patrol agents were the ones to engage with people in the van. However, Smith said the supervisor became distracted and, when out of view of the supervisor, RPD officers removed and handcuffed some of the people in the van.

"In a moment when the Trump Administration is detaining and disappearing people across our country, Rochester must stand firm and defend our immigrant community. Immigrants make our communities stronger, and are deeply woven into the fabric of our City and country," Martin said in a statement. "The RPD officers who collaborated with federal immigration agents—in blatant violation of Rochester’s Sanctuary City policy and RPD General Orders—betrayed our community and conspired to destroy the lives of our neighbors, Sarah and her family. While City leaders are aligned in our commitment to protect immigrants, it’s evident that there are serious gaps in how this commitment is being demonstrated."

The Rochester Police Department has opened an internal investigation into the department's role.

Mayor Malik Evans and Smith said they will follow the required protocol in order to provide due process to the officers involved.

According to Smith, about a dozen officers were involved in the incident and they all will receive additional training before they return to duty. All sections of the department will receive additional training as well.  

Martin says that simply retraining the officers is not enough.

"Simply put, “retraining” is an inadequate response to such egregious behavior; it does very little to address the harm done and fails entirely at mitigating the chilling effect violent and harmful actions like this have on immigrant communities," her statement continued. "In order to truly demonstrate our commitment to protecting immigrants and ensure that our city is a Sanctuary for immigrants, we must hold the RPD officers involved in tearing Sarah’s family apart accountable. Mayor Evans and Chief Smith, who have disciplinary power over RPD, must fire the officers involved."

This comes after U.S. border czar Thomas Homan said that the White House is backing the officers. Homan said that the officers have his full support, along with President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, and that "help is coming."