As Friday prayer ended at the Islamic Society of St. Petersburg, parishioners welcomed Mayor Rick Kriseman to the front of the room.

The Thursday night before, a mosque that was less than an hour’s drive from St. Petersburg was the site of what officials are calling arson, and what many people think of as most definitely a hate crime targeting Muslims at a time when the President of the United States is maligning the religious group.

As his Tampa counterpart has done, Kriseman told those gathered that St. Petersburg is an accepting city and it’s not going to look the other way when it comes to hate toward any group.

“Now, you all have probably heard me talk about our city’s vision statement, which I implemented when I took office, that St. Petersburg will be a place where the sun shines on all. On all,” he said “That includes all faiths and everyone in this room. I know this is once again a challenging time to be a Muslim in America. It’s not right, and it’s not fair. But I believe there are no words or policies that can fracture the spirit of the people in this room and Muslims across St. Petersburg. We are in this together and we will stick together.”

While there haven’t been any incidents of vandalism or other hate crimes targeting Muslims recently (not that there have never been), Kriseman said St. Petersburg Police are on the lookout for threats and suspicious activity that may suggest a group is being targeted.

After his remarks, Kriseman fielded a series of questions from members of the congregation. 

Quite a few had to do with President Trump’s executive orders targeting immigration, and where St. Petersburg stood on the idea of becoming a sanctuary city so undocumented immigrants don’t have to constantly worry about getting deported. He told the audience that although the city is with actual sanctuary cities in spirit, there’s little the city can do beyond not telling police officers to ask for papers if they suspect someone might be undocumented. He explained that the city can’t technically become a sanctuary city because of how the region carries out arrests—namely, once an arrest is made, suspects are then processed through the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, which is led by longtime incumbent Republican Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who has never supported the idea of making Pinellas County (and, therein, St. Pete) a sanctuary county.

“What I will tell you is that [St. Petersburg] police officers will arrest anyone who violates the law,” he said. “What they won’t do is, they won’t ask are you an illegal immigrant? And can I see your papers. They don’t do that, and they’re not going to start doing that.”

Kriseman, who in 2015 famously tweeted that Trump was not welcome in St. Pete after then-candidate Trump said he’d ban all Muslims from traveling to the U.S., expressed exasperation over what the future holds; not just for Muslims and undocumented immigrants targeted in Trump’s executive orders, but for future generations of humans in general, all of whom will need clean air to breath and clean water to drink and, really, the First Amendment, which the Trump Administration kind of stepped on Friday, by the way.

“These are very troubling times. I have two kids, and I am very concerned about the country that we’re creating and we’re leaving for them, for our children and grandchildren. This country is starting to not represent who we’ve been, what we’ve stood for.”

This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 2, 2017.