Cambridge Officials Release 'Sanctuary City' Statement

CAMBRIDGE, MA — City officials say they remain committed to keeping Cambridge a Sanctuary City, maintaining current policing policies and providing services to those with and without U.S. citizenship despite the possible fallout under a Trump administration.

The City of Cambridge has been a Sanctuary City since 1985, a status that puts it and other Massachusetts cities in line to lose federal funding, if President-elect Donald Trump's policies go forward as planned. It's one of the actions Trump has said he'd take in the first 100 days of his first term.

The term "sanctuary city" refers to cities that don't cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That can include not notifying immigration officials if an undocumented immigrant will soon be released from custody, for example. Other cities has taken more extensive steps to protect immigrants.

Trump has said he initially plans to deport or incarcerate several million immigrants, stating in a 60 Minutes interview days after his election, "What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records — gang members, drug dealers — we have a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million. We're getting them out of our country or we're going to incarcerate."

More deportations could follow, the President-elect suggested in the interview.

Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons and newly official City Manager Louis A. DePasquale have weighed in. Their joint statement is included in full below:

The recent national political climate has generated considerable concern and anxiety on the part of many Cambridge residents, especially members of our immigrant communities. The City of Cambridge wants to clearly state to our community that it is committed to supporting and promoting the safety, health, and well-being of all of its residents. As a Sanctuary City, Cambridge affirms the basic human rights and dignity of every human being and provides education, health and other services to all residents of Cambridge, regardless of their immigration status.

“The City of Cambridge has been a Sanctuary City since April 1985, when the City Council first took steps to protect and support refugees fleeing from political violence and human rights violations in El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti,” said Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons. “In 1999, the City Council expanded that support to all residents, regardless of immigration status, and has regularly reaffirmed that over the last 20 years. Today, the City of Cambridge remains just as committed to all of our residents as we have been over the past 31 years.”

The City provides support and resources ranging from a Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship to programming at the Cambridge Community Learning Center to a Community Engagement Team that works to connect hard to reach populations with City services.

“Every Cambridge resident – regardless of their status – is encouraged to seek and obtain assistance from the many resources available to the Cambridge community. Cambridge remains a welcoming community for all,” said Cambridge City Manager Louis A. DePasquale.

Furthermore, a core principle of the Cambridge Police Department’s Community Policing philosophy is that all community members are encouraged to seek and obtain police assistance and protection, regardless of their specific immigration and/or documentation status. The enforcement of the nation’s civil immigration laws are the primary responsibility of the federal government and the Cambridge Police Department does not undertake immigration-related investigations and does not routinely inquire into the specific immigration status of any person encountered during normal police operations.

As Mayor and City Manager of Cambridge, we remain committed to the City’s Sanctuary City status and the services and support that we provide to the Cambridge Community.

Mayor E. Denise Simmons
City Manager Louis A. DePasquale

City Hall photo by Daderot via Wikimedia Commons