Claiming Somerville and Cambridge are “deliberately and shamefully” obstructing federal immigration law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday placed the cities and 10 others in Massachusetts on notice by including them in a “sanctuary jurisdictions” list.
The list makes no direct threats, but “demands that these jurisdictions immediately review and revise their policies to align with federal immigration laws and renew their obligation to protect American citizens, not dangerous illegal aliens.”
In Somerville, mayor Katjana Ballantyne pushed back against the “weaponization” of federal resources, saying the city follows the law and “neither participates … nor interferes” in enforcement and actions.
Cambridge’s city manager, Yi-An Huang, said Friday that Cambridge has seen no individual notice from the federal government about the list and that, “as a welcoming community, we do not support this federal administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, which is detaining community members without due process – a fundamental pillar of the United States Constitution and legal system. In keeping with well-established city values and policies, we will continue to prioritize public safety decisions that are in the best interests of our residents, while protecting their dignity, safety, and rights, regardless of immigration status.”
Huang has given weekly updates on federal issues during City Council meetings since president Donald Trump returned to office. He addressed the expected list as far back as May 5, noting that a earlier rumbling of crackdowns by Trump on sanctuary cities had been restrained by a federal court in April “on the basis that it violates the Constitution’s separation of powers principles, it is unconstitutionally vague and violates due process.”
“We expect to see additional legal challenges,” Huang said. “While there is strong precedent for preserving the existing separation of federal immigration enforcement from state and local government, there continues to be concern over shifting opinions on the court, especially the Supreme Court.”
Somerville officials did not respond immediately to a question about how the city is changing policies in light of scrutiny by the federal government; the mayor emphasized that local police will be “wholly focused on the job they are trained and hired for,” including local public safety efforts such as crime prevention, traffic enforcement or emergency response.
In late April, president Donald Trump issued an executive order “protecting American communities from criminal aliens” that required a list be compiled to help stem a so-called “lawless insurrection” against federal law and its obligation to protect the country’s “territorial sovereignty.” The regularly updated list will evaluate “compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions and legal protections for illegal aliens,” though it was not clear as to what the evaluation process looks like. The department says in the preamble that “sanctuary cities protect dangerous criminal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in peril.”
Chelsea, as well as Boston and Newton, were included on the list. While she and other officials are “girding ourselves for possible assaults on the rule of law,” Ballantyne pointed to a lawsuit filed in February with Chelsea in which the cities say two earlier executive orders related to immigration are unconstitutional and should not be enforced.
Cambridge too has joined in legal challenges with other communities, Huang has said. But there’s an inherent imbalance in the courts from a mercurial Trump and an administration that seems to have adopted a tech mantra of trying to move faster than the law.
“One of the challenges we are facing is that executive actions are rolling out faster than our legal system moves. Certainly, I feel the stress of the uncertainty, and we’re processing news daily, weekly – in my unhealthier states, processing hourly,” Huang said. “The reality is that courts move more on a monthly or even yearly time frame.”
If the administration follows the law and U.S. Constitution, Ballantyne said, “we should see no federal action.” But Somerville spokesperson Denise Taylor suggested the complication of trying to follow rapidly changing federal edicts, pointing to an approximately $4 million in Safer Streets grant money now in jeopardy, because of “new conditions” set by the Department of Transportation that the city feels may be unconstitutional.
“We’d all do well to recognize that when we trade the rule of the law for the rule of one man, anyone can be next,” Ballantyne said.
Sue Reinert contributed to this report.
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