In an effort spearheaded by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, leaders from six of the largest cities in Greater Boston moved Thursday to ban federal immigration officials from detaining people on municipal property, set up safeguards for protesters, and investigate accusations that agents broke local or state laws during their actions.
The series of edicts unveiled by officials from Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Lynn, Newton, and Chelsea would also prohibit immigration agents from using city property as a staging area for their actions.
And in a nod to the intensifying confrontations that unfolded on the streets of Minneapolis, the officials directed city employees to use deescalation tactics to protect peaceful protesters. Additionally, the executive order that Wu issued Thursday, for example, also said city officials will immediately provide first aid to people injured in a confrontation, as well as release body camera footage or other city-owned surveillance video that captures federal agents committing violence or damaging property.
The goal of the coordinated actions, Wu said, is to protect residents from “unconstitutional and violent federal operations.”
“Together, we will use every tool we have, every right and law and constitutional protection we fought for, to defend our residents from federal overreach,” Wu said.
A White House spokesperson slammed Wu’s executive order, and said ICE agents are facing a sharp increase in assaults due to “dangerous, untrue smears by elected Democrats.”
“ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communities and local officials should work with them, not against them,” Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “Anyone pointing the finger at law enforcement officers instead of the criminals is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens.”
The Massachusetts orders closely mirror action taken in other cities, including Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Jose, Calif., which have all also prohibited ICE from using city property.
While it’s unclear how Boston plans to enforce the order beyond suing the federal government over alleged violations, it could affect immigration enforcement operations in the Greater Boston area, where federal officials have been spotted staging in city-owned parking lots and other public spaces.
Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson said a ban on immigration agents using city property was necessary because federal agents have used the city-owned cemetery, its high school sports stadium, and police department parking lot as staging grounds. Nicholson previously criticized ICE tactics last June, when federal agents in tactical gear forcefully arrested a man who is a legal permanent resident outside of an elementary school, in a chaotic scene captured on video.
Fidel Maltez, the city manager of Chelsea, said immigration enforcement has “ravaged” his city, with federal agents taking people into custody and smashing their car windows on their way to church or to their jobs.
“Chelsea residents are afraid to go to work, we are afraid to go to school, we are afraid to go see a doctor,” Maltez said. “Intimidation has no place in our community. . . . We will protect our residents. We will stand by all of our community members and who will defend their rights as a city of immigrants?”
The move from local leaders comes one week after Governor Maura Healey filed a bill that would ban federal immigration enforcement officials from entering schools, churches, courthouses, day cares, and hospitals. Advocates across the state have been pushing local and state lawmakers to take more action to keep residents safe amid increasingly brazen federal immigration enforcement operations across the country, particularly in Minneapolis where federal agents recently shot and killed two protesters.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden also added that ICE agents continue to disrupt court proceedings to take people into custody. It’s preventing his office from holding people accountable and securing justice for victims, he said, as well as discouraging witnesses and victims themselves from coming forward in criminal cases.
“This has to stop, this does not help public safety one bit, it hurts public safety,” Hayden said.
Wu did not clarify how Boston will implement or enforce the provisions in the executive order, particularly if federal agents refuse to leave, or demand entry, onto city property. The order does emphasize that the city will pursue legal action if federal officials “impair the city’s municipal functions or jeopardize the collective health, safety, and welfare of city residents.”
When asked whether the order creates the potential for federal and local law enforcement to clash, Wu insisted the Boston directive simply orders police to prioritize deescalation and document any potentially illegal activity by federal officials. She reiterated the order explicitly states local law enforcement are not to interfere or obstruct federal immigration enforcement activity.
“We will not take actions that will escalate conflict or put people in additional harm’s way,” she said.
Boston officials are still developing protocols for how front-line staff at schools, libraries, and community centers should respond if they see federal agents trying to conduct immigration enforcement on city property, an official confirmed to the Globe. According to the executive order, federal officials conducting immigration enforcement will only be allowed onto city properties if they have a judicial warrant or court order.
In Chicago, an order by Mayor Brandon Johnson directs municipal workers to inform city leaders when federal agents use city property for immigration enforcement, a Chicago official told the Globe. Chicago also put signs on all municipal properties to indicate they are city-owned and not to be used for immigration enforcement, in order to establish that any violations would be considered trespassing.
Chicago has already sued after federal agents continued to conduct operations on a city-owned parking lot near the airport.
Mayors from many Democrat-led US cities have been increasingly vocal in their opposition to the Trump administration’s agenda. Dozens of local governments have signed on to lawsuits that challenge the deployment of federal agents in Minnesota, and contest the White House’s move to cut federal grant programs that fund housing and transportation initiatives.
A number of advocacy and community groups thanked Wu and the other municipal leaders to stepping up their objections to the administration’s aggressive style of immigration enforcement.
“The federal government’s tactics are militaristic and violent, and do not belong in one of the country’s safest major cities,” Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, or MIRA, said. “The mayor’s actions will help ensure transparency and accountability while signaling to the federal administration that the welfare and rights of all Bostonians will be upheld.”
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.