The Boston City Council unanimously voted this week to double down on a measure designed to obstruct President-elect Trump’s plans for mass deportations.
According to the Boston Herald, Boston council member Gabriela Coletta said the measure is an important step “as we brace for [the] impact” of a second Trump presidency.
Titled the “Trust Act,” the law was first passed in 2014 and was amended during Trump’s first term in 2019.
It seeks to protect immigrant communities from “unjust enforcement actions” and restricts Boston police’s ability to cooperate with ICE and bans police from keeping migrants in custody for possible deportation unless there is a criminal warrant.
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Flags fly above Boston City Hall on Nov. 11, 2021. (Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The resolution adopted by the council states that “proposals for mass deportations represent a direct attack on Boston’s immigrant families, and threaten to tear communities apart.”
“In the face of changing federal leadership, the City of Boston must reaffirm our support for the Boston Trust Act to protect our immigrant residents,” the resolution goes on. “The City of Boston shall continue to monitor and respond to federal immigration policies that may impact its residents, reaffirming its commitment to protect immigrant communities from unjust enforcement actions and to uphold the Trust Act, recognizing that protecting the rights and dignity of all residents, regardless of immigration status, is essential for a safe and welcoming city for all.”
According to the Boston Globe, all 13 council members voted to reaffirm the Trust Act on Wednesday.
Per the Boston Globe, Council President Ruthzee Louijeune said that “as the national climate grows increasingly hostile towards immigrant communities, we must reaffirm who we are as a city.”
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Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston apprehended an unlawfully present 28-year-old Salvadoran national, Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arevalo, and charged him with numerous sex crimes against a child on Nantucket Island. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
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“As a city built on the strength of its diverse communities,” she went on, “Boston remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting the rights [and] dignity of all its residents, regardless of status.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat, has also vowed the city would not cooperate with Trump and his incoming border czar Tom Homan’s plans for mass deportations.
“The federal government is responsible for a certain set of actions, and cities, no individual city, can reverse or override some parts of that,” Wu said during a local news interview. “But what we can do is make sure that we are doing our part to protect our residents in every possible way, that we are not cooperating with those efforts that actually threaten the safety of everyone by causing widespread fear and having large-scale economic impact.”
This comes after the Boston area has seen several ICE arrests of illegal immigrants who have been charged with crimes, including child sex offenses, released back onto the streets.
ICE announced in November that it apprehended a Colombian illegal immigrant, who had been arrested on charges of enticing a child under 16, distribution of obscene matter, and lascivious posing and exhibiting a child in the nude. ICE had filed a detainer against him, but it was ignored, according to the agency.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey visit the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex, which was being used to house more than 300 migrants. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
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Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has similarly said she is prepared to use “every tool in the toolbox” to protect residents, vowing that state police would “absolutely not” assist Trump in the mass deportations operation.
Several other Democratic leaders have also pledged resistance to Trump’s deportation plans, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
Johnston got into a spat with Homan after he vowed to have Denver police physically block ICE officials from carrying out deportations and predicted a “Tiananmen Square moment.”
In response, Homan has warned resisters to “get the hell out of the way” and cautioned he is “not afraid” to jail those who illegally obstruct ICE enforcement.
