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Boston's sanctuary status, Trust Act to be subject of City Council hearing audit

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on

Published in News & Features

The Boston City Council is set to audit the “implementation and effectiveness” of the Trust Act, a 2014 law that has led to Mayor Michelle Wu facing potential criminal prosecution due to the city’s sanctuary status.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday as the Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice is set to “audit the implementation, enforcement, administrative compliance, and impact” of the law that limits the city’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

“While across the country policies such as Boston’s Trust Act come under attack,” Councilor Julia Mejia wrote in an Instagram post on Friday, “our office is choosing to seize this moment as an opportunity to demonstrate how the Trust Act has made Boston a safer and more unified city.”

“Not only that,” added Mejia, the hearing’s sponsor, “but we want to identify the ways in which we can STRENGTHEN this act to ensure that we create a reality where immigrants can occupy ALL spaces and places without fear or hesitation.”

Councilors in December unanimously reaffirmed the Trust Act, which prohibits Boston Police and other city departments from cooperating with ICE on civil immigration detainers.

The law, enacted in 2014 and then amended in 2019, allows for cooperation in criminal matters like human trafficking, child exploitation, drug and weapons trafficking, and cybercrimes. While Mayor Wu, councilors and immigration advocates say the Trust Act has made Boston safer, critics argue that it does the opposite and violates federal law.

Wu testified on sanctuary policies’ impact on public safety before the GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Washington last week.

The mayor faced an onslaught of questions as numerous Republican lawmakers raised the prospect of referring federal charges to the Department of Justice, putting Wu and the mayors of Chicago, Denver and New York at risk of being criminally prosecuted.

“I don’t care who it is, I don’t care what office you hold, we need to abide by the laws passed,” U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, an Alabama Republican, said at last Wednesday’s hearing.

 

The City Council’s audit hearing order filed last month highlights how a “thorough review” of the law’s “application requires an examination of data collection, reporting mechanisms, and departmental compliance.”

Councilors will also evaluate whether city personnel and funding are being “used appropriately within the scope of municipal authority and not diverted toward federal civil immigration enforcement,” according to the hearing order.

“It has now been 10 years since the passage of the Boston Trust Act,” the hearing order states, “presenting an opportunity to review compliance with legislative intent in light of the realities of 2025, particularly as undocumented residents face heightened concerns and uncertainty.”

Councilors will also look into discrepancies in last year’s civil immigration detainer reporting.

ICE reported it filed 198 immigration detainer requests, but Boston Police had said it received 15 such requests. A police spokesperson told the Herald in January that the discrepancy was mainly due to ICE faxing requests to district stations rather than emailing them to a central address.

Boston’s sanctuary city status is prompting the federal Small Business Administration to move out of its regional Causeway Street office and relocate to a “less costly, more accessible location” in an area that “complies with federal immigration law.”

“It’s disappointing to see the federal government and this Republican administration turn its back on small businesses,” Councilor Brian Worrell wrote in an X post on Friday, “but I’m not surprised when our federal government is controlled by the wealthiest man in the world."

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