City Council hearing on Trust Act upcoming as Congress, feds takes aim at Boston's sanctuary city status

Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald on Feb 24, 2025

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BOSTON — The city will find itself at the center of the national immigration debate of multiple fronts in the coming weeks, with debates arising in the City Council, the Mayor’s office and before Congress, just as President Donald Trump’s border czar promised to bring “hell” to the Hub in response to the city’s Trust Act.

The City Council Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice is scheduled to conduct a hearing on the “civil immigration detainer results for calendar year 2024” related to the Trust Act and discrepancies in reporting on Mar. 6. The Trust Act, enacted in 2014, made Boston a sanctuary city by prohibiting city police and other departments from cooperating with ICE and federal agencies on civil immigration detainers.

The motion for a hearing “to discuss discrepancies in Boston’s 2024 detainer requests” was filed by Councilor Ed Flynn after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported they filed 198 immigration detainer requests in Boston. Boston Police told the City Clerk they received 15 detainer requests.

At the time the hearing was scheduled, a BPD spokesperson told the Herald the discrepancy was due to ICE faxing requests to district stations rather than emailing them to a central address, among other factors.

“It’s critical that the Boston Police Department develop and maintain a positive and working relationship with our federal law enforcement partners,” Flynn said Sunday. “When someone commits a crime, regardless of immigration status, we can’t stand in the way of justice for a victim or respect for the rule of law and society. Federal law enforcement officials also play a critical role in the safety and security of our neighborhoods.

“We can’t play politics with the safety and security of Boston residents,” Flynn added.

Asked about the future of the Trust Act and whether it should be revisited, Flynn said he would “support a hearing with city officials and city, state and federal law enforcement partners on this issue” and a “civil conversation to discuss public safety strategies.”

Boston’s status as a sanctuary city made headlines again Saturday, as Border czar Tom Homan called out the city and Police Commissioner Michael Cox at the Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C.

“I read a story last night that the police commissioner of Boston, you said you’d double down on not helping law enforcement officers of ICE,” Homan said, during his 15-minute speech. “I’m coming to Boston, and I’m bringing hell with me.”

Cox told WCVB last Sunday that Boston is among the “safest major cities in the country” and must “abide by the law here in the state” regarding immigration detainers. Homan said Cox is “not a police commissioner” and “became a politician.”

A day before the City Council hearing on Mar. 5, Mayor Michelle Wu is scheduled to testify before the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

On a WCVB segment aired Sunday, Rep. Stephen Lynch, a Democrat on the committee, said he encouraged Wu to testify because she “had a good story to tell” with Boston crime numbers down.

“Especially compared to the other mayors who will be there,” said Lynch. “Chicago, you know, that’s not a good story. So I suspect she won’t be the target at that hearing. They’ll be looking at some of the other mayors who have really outrageous things going on and a lot of chaos.”

Wu responded to Homan’s comments Saturday on Bluesky, saying “This is our city. We’re going to continue following & enforcing the laws to keep all Bostonians safe.”

Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan also weighed in, commenting Sunday on Homan’s speech with a post to X.

“Laughable that someone who spent their career policing a town smaller than a Fenway Park crowd thinks they can lecture Boston on public safety,” Durkan wrote. “Commissioner Michael Cox serves with distinction and earns trust with integrity. Tom Homan should know, we don’t scare easy.”

ICE has led a series of arrests around the Boston area since the Trump administration took office in January, most recently joining with the Coast Guard to detain two non-citizen workers on a boat off the coast of Massachusetts on Thursday.

The two crewmembers violated the law requiring at least 75% of a vessel’s crew to be U.S. citizens and were located during a commercial fishing vessel inspection, according to the Coast Guard. They were then transferred to ICE custody.