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Somerville works to reaffirm its sanctuary city status
During a recent meeting, city councilors discussed the resolution in the wake of Donald Trump’s reelection.
Somerville city councilors are working to reaffirm the city’s status as a “sanctuary city” following the reelection of Donald Trump, who ran a campaign promising a mass deportation of undocumented migrants.
The resolution discussed at Thursday evening’s City Council meeting noted that the national climate remains “hostile” toward immigrants and refugees and that the upcoming return of President Trump brings “heightened risks” for immigrant communities.
The resolution pledges that the city will protect the “safety, dignity, and rights of immigrants, migrants, asylum seekers, asylees, and refugees residing in Somerville.”
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The City Council referred the resolution to the city’s Committee on Legislative Matters; it will return to the council for a vote at a later date.
Maria Teresa Nagel, director of SomerViva, the city’s office of immigrant affairs, said at the meeting that the resolution “sends a very loud message.”
To those who question whether the city should sound a loud message during a time when people will be targeted, Nagel said, “We are already targeted.”
However, the resolution sends a clear message to the city’s residents that “there is no fear tactic that is going to work on us,” Nagel said.
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“Hard times are coming, and there will be so many things that are going to be outside our control,” she said. “But sending a clear message of support, showing up every day, remaining committed to our values — that is something that we can do.”
Somerville declared itself a sanctuary city in 1987, second only to Cambridge, and it reaffirmed this status in 2016 and again in 2019. The resolution is a statement of the City Council’s values and does not enact anything into law.
The resolution promises that the city’s police and public schools will not apply for or accept federal funds that require gathering information on the national origin, immigration, or citizenship status of employees, students, or residents for the purpose of deportation.
In it, the Somerville Police Department also reaffirms its commitment to not cooperate with external law enforcement agencies on matters related to immigration detainment.
The resolution states, “Regardless of external pressure or challenges faced by sanctuary cities, Somerville remains committed to its values of inclusion, equity, and justice and will not waver in supporting our immigrant neighbors, who are integral to the strength and diversity of our community.”
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Judy Pineda Neufeld, vice president of the City Council, said at the meeting that she was asked many times over the last few days about this resolution and why they are bringing it back up now.
“It’s because I believe in doing everything we can, with all the tools at our disposal, to protect our most vulnerable, to protect our immigrant neighbors and families, and this is one of the ways we can do that,” she said.
Councilor Naima Sait, also a school teacher, said she saw the fear her students faced every day during Trump’s last term in office.
She saw how many of her students fell behind on schoolwork as they took on more significant responsibilities for their families as the primary providers, seeking legal advice or being interpreters to their parents who may have been deported.
“I did not let fear paralyze me then, and I will not let fear paralyze me now,” Sait said.
As Sait, a first-generation immigrant, worked on getting her citizenship, she began seeing Somerville as her home, especially as it meant being a “part of a community that channeled its anger into action.”
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The resolution and other city councilors also call on neighboring cities to reaffirm their commitment to “serving and protecting their immigrant communities.”
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