SANCTUARY HUB
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‘Boston should not assist or cooperate with the mass deportations of immigrants. That’s not who our city is.’
City Councilor Tito Jackson wants to make Boston a sanctuary city in defiance of Presidentelect Donald Trump’s insistence that he will deport up to 3 million “criminal” illegal aliens as soon as he takes office.
Trump’s plan was revealed last night in a “60 Minutes” interview in which he pledged to act fast on his immigration agenda.
“I believe the city of Boston should not assist or cooperate with the mass deportations of immigrants. That’s not who our city is, and it’s not what our tax dollars should be used for,” Jackson told the Herald last night. “Boston has to lead in this space.”
As a sanctuary city, Jackson said, Boston could frustrate a major sweep of illegal immigrants by barring local law enforcement from initiating or participating in deportation actions.
Jackson said he believes it is “critical that we remain steadfast in ensuring that immigrants who are undocumented actually have a path to citizenship, versus further victimizing people in these communities, who are often the victims of violent crimes as well as taken advantage of in the shadows.”
In the “60 Minutes” interview that aired last night, Trump said his administration would first “get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.”
Trump added that after the border is secured and “everything gets normalized,” the government is going to decide what to do about illegal aliens who lack criminal records, who he called “terrific people, but we are going to make a determination.” Jackson also scoffed at the idea aliens should be deportable just because they have been charged with a crime.
“I actually had a friend who was rounded up by ICE. His ‘criminal record’ was possession of marijuana,” Jackson said. “This young man was shipped from Boston to Philly to Texas, and they attempted to strip him of his ability to apply for citizenship. And his only crime was possession of marijuana.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh was not available for comment last night. But the morning after Trump’s election, he vowed to work to protect illegal immigrants, saying of Trump he is “not letting anybody change the policies in the city of Boston” with respect to helping immigrants find pathways to citizenship.
Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone — whose city already is a sanctuary city — said last night that mass deportations “will have untold consequences on our economy, on our nation and our democracy.”
“I want to take President Trump at his word, despite his many lies, that he wants to be the president of all people,” Curtatone said. “If the president-elect took a look at our community, he would find a community without walls, but instead a sea of decency, compassion, civility, and morality. I tell you what, we’re not going to change who we are. We’re not going to abandon our friends, our neighbors, our families, our schoolchildren.”
Curtatone added, “We’re not going to do the job of the federal government,” and said Trump should focus on bipartisan immigration reform. Trump also: • Said he is still weighing whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, saying, “I’m going to think about it. … She did some bad things,” though he called the Clintons “good people ... I don’t want to hurt them.”
• Made no firm commitment to releasing his tax returns, saying, “Nobody cares.”
• Looked into the camera and told any supporters who are committing hate crimes, “Stop it.”