6 months ago
14
(NewsNation) — Two Massachusetts sanctuary cities person filed a suit against respective national officials, including President Donald Trump, alleging the authorities is attempting to coerce them into the Trump administration's wide deportation efforts.
The cities of Chelsea and Somerville filed a national suit this week challenging the Trump administration’s efforts and arguing that national officials are threatening to defund section efforts to support their communities safe.
The suit was filed aft Trump borderline czar Tom Homan claimed helium was “coming to Boston and bringing hellhole with me.”
The lawsuit, which was filed by metropolis officials who are represented by Lawyers For Civil Rights, argues the administration’s menace of stripping sanctuary cities of national backing violates the cities’ law rights.
"Public information is the apical precedence for the City of Chelsea—we cannot spend to person our residents fearfulness reporting crimes oregon engaging with section instrumentality enforcement, arsenic this undermines the information of everyone successful our community," Chelsea City Manager Fidel Maltez said successful a statement.
Chelsea has been a sanctuary metropolis since 2007 and “is stronger due to the fact that of our migrant population, and we volition not fto fearfulness oregon misinformation disagreement us,” the metropolis manager said. Somerville has maintained its sanctuary metropolis presumption since 1987 and has reaffirmed its committedness to that presumption 3 times since 2016, City Council President Judy Pineda Neufeld said.
She said the national government’s attempts to coerce metropolis officials into betraying its migrant neighbors are “unconstitutional, morally unacceptable and a danger” to the afloat community.
“Our city’s values are clear: We volition support the dignity, safety, and rights of each of our residents, careless of migration status,” Pineda Neufeld said.
In fiscal twelvemonth 2024, Chelsea received astir $14.5 cardinal successful national funding, portion of which went to acquisition and downtown reconstruction projects. During the aforesaid time, Somerville received astir $19.4 cardinal successful national wealth to enactment a assortment of assemblage and nationalist information services. Those projects see roadway information initiatives, homelessness prevention services and efforts to code and trim younker baccy usage and intoxicant consumption, the metropolis said.
The suit alleges that since taking bureau successful January, Trump’s enforcement orders person threatened to support national backing from sanctuary cities that bash not cooperate with national migration agents arsenic portion of the wide deportation effort. Homan has visited cities similar Chicago, wherever ICE raids were conducted soon aft Trump’s inauguration, and has targeted cities that propulsion backmost against national engagement successful migration enforcement.
Maltez, the Chelsea metropolis manager, told GBH News that since Trump took bureau successful January, the city’s downtown territory has seen a diminution successful ft traffic. He said the metropolis received reports of migration agents being successful section businesses.
“And honestly, it created a batch of fearfulness successful our community,” Maltez told the section tv station. “We perceive from our residents astir each time astir however they are frightened of walking successful our streets.”
The suit besides names the Department of Justice and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem and the Department of Transportation and Secretary Sean Duffy as defendants.
The suit argues Trump’s enforcement orders person said sanctuary cities volition not person DOJ backing and that the Department of Transportation volition deprioritize those cities arsenic well.
An email sent from NewsNation to the Department of Homeland Security seeking remark connected the suit was not returned.
“The President cannot usage national backing arsenic a limb to unit section governments to undermine nationalist information and their values and enactment successful his wide deportation efforts,” Oren Sellstrom, 1 of the Massachusetts cities’ attorneys, said successful a statement. “(The) suit seeks to support sanctuary and welcoming cities, truthful they tin proceed to marque nationalist information decisions that are successful the champion interests of their residents.”
