The Boston City Council voted unanimously to retain its status as a sanctuary city on Wednesday night, to “protect” illegal immigrants from president elect Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
All thirteen council members voted to reaffirm the city’s Boston Trust Act, which “delineates the distinct roles and responsibilities of the Boston Police Department from those of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), thereby promoting trust between local law enforcement and immigrant communities.” In other words, the act severely limits to what extent local authorities can work with federal immigration authorities.
“It’s not just a policy, but it is a promise to our immigrant neighbors that they are welcome here, and this is a safe haven, and they don’t have to live in fear of being unjustly scrutinized or even ripped away from their families,” Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata said at the Wednesday City Council meeting. “As we brace for impact, we’ve got to make sure that we all work together.”
ICE’s Boston office repeatedly asks authorities in Massachusetts sanctuary cities to aid in removing criminal illegal immigrants, and it is repeatedly denied, usually due to laws such as the Trust Act which allow cities to shield immigrants from federal authorities. In 2022, the Boston Police Department ignored twelve ICE detainer requests, per the Boston Trust Act.
In Boston in early November, ICE arrested Mateo Hincapie Cardona, an illegal immigrant charged with multiple child sex offenses, who had been previously arrested by the Boston Police Department. Local authorities did not honor the detainer ICE issued for Cardona and instead released the man from their custody.
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities, of which Massachusetts has eight, and initiate mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan has sparred in recent weeks with progressive Boston mayor Michelle Wu over the city’s immigration policies.
“Mayors’ number one responsibility is to protect their communities and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. So either she helps us or she gets the hell out of the way because we’re going to do it,” Homan said last month.
Wu has said in response to Homan’s orders that “the idea that certain local law enforcement agencies will be required, or will be expected, to participate in mass deportations of residents who have not been part of serious criminal activity just to fulfill this campaign promise, this is not something that is possible under the laws in Boston.”