On August 16 Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told WCVB-TV that the city was working to stop any expansion of federal immigration enforcement in the region. Earlier in the month city officials learned that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted on a government procurement website the plan by ICE to buy or lease parking garages or parking lots in cities across the country, and in Boston the facility would need to accommodate 249 federal vehicles. The mayor explained that the city was using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to discover any possible responses by Boston property owners to the federal offers. Ms. Wu said that while she could not legally block a contract between ICE and the owner of private property, the mayor could inform the property owner of the history of killings and violence by ICE agents, and that “this is not a way to make the community safer.”
Mayor Wu already signed a February 5 Executive Order to prevent ICE agents from using any city property, and on August 6 Governor Maura Healey signed the Protect Act which established standards of conduct for local law enforcement to deal with federal immigration enforcement. The Protect Act bans ICE activities from schools, child daycare centers, and hospitals; it requires a judicial warrant to enter a courthouse; it prohibits local law enforcement from entering the 287(g) agreements with federal agencies; it requires that every detainee in every jail or detention facility in Massachusetts be informed of their legal rights and given access and confidential communications to legal representation; and it ensures that all residents, regardless of immigration status, can access essential services without fear.
