在马萨诸塞州，特朗普政府对“庇护城市”的威胁产生了令人不寒而栗的影响
【中美创新时报2025 年 1 月 23 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）根据本周发送给司法部员工的一份备忘录，如果马萨诸塞州的政治和执法官员拒绝或不遵守特朗普政府逮捕和驱逐居住在他们社区的无证移民的计划，他们现在将面临联邦起诉的威胁。《波士顿环球报》记者Samantha J. Gross 对此作了下述报道。
该部门周二命令联邦检察官调查他们认为干涉特朗普政府打击移民的州或地方官员，称他们可能面临刑事指控，这显然是对全国数十个拥有“庇护”政策或程序的司法管辖区的警告。
其中一个社区是 Easthampton，其市长 Nicole LaChapelle 称这份备忘录“令人不寒而栗”。
“我们可以肯定并承诺与所有居民站在一起，”拉查佩尔说，他的城市在 2021 年通过了一项“欢迎”法令。“但联邦政府就是联邦政府……这是笼罩在人们生活中的黑暗幽灵。”
马萨诸塞州庇护城市的领导人和其他州官员大多拒绝了该部门的命令，他们说该命令与联邦法律相冲突，专家补充说该命令无法执行。但特朗普政府决定确定并针对此类城市的领导人，将许多马萨诸塞州的市政当局推到了移民辩论的聚光灯下。
该指令由代理副检察长埃米尔·博夫发出，称实施庇护政策的州和市政当局可能“威胁公共安全”，并且与特朗普政府的移民举措不一致。它还明确表示，政府的重点是针对被指控从事犯罪活动的无证移民。
“事实上，司法部有责任捍卫宪法，”博夫写道，在加入特朗普政府之前，他曾是司法部提起的两起刑事案件中为总统辩护的法律团队成员。
特朗普政府上任头几天采取了一系列举措，包括向南部边境部署更多现役部队、承诺驱逐非法越境移民而不是允许他们申请庇护，以及暂停计划进入美国的难民旅行。周三，国会通过了一项措施，驱逐被指控犯有某些罪行的移民——政府在其信息中强调了这一点，也是特朗普在竞选活动中提出的关键观点。
庇护城市没有正式的法律定义，它已成为拒绝与联邦当局合作并仅基于移民身份拘留某人的社区的政治简称。在马萨诸塞州，州警察被禁止在没有犯罪行为的情况下协助驱逐出境，因为单凭非法居留并不被视为州一级的犯罪。
市政领导人和律师都表示，特朗普政府对城市和城镇的威胁可能会挑战宪法规定的三权分立和其他保护措施，包括州主权、言论自由和免受不合理搜查和扣押的保护。
东北大学法学院移民司法诊所联合创始人兼主任 Hemanth C. Gundavaram 表示，无论合法性如何，特朗普政府命令的目的可能只是让当地领导人感到恐惧。
“你这么做是因为你认为你会赢，还是因为你会吓唬人们？” Gundavaram 说。“恐惧可以像做某事一样有效。”
波士顿民权律师协会执行董事伊万·埃斯皮诺萨-马德里加尔 (Iván Espinoza-Madrigal) 表示，庇护政策的一个好处是，它们允许无证犯罪受害者或目击者与执法部门合作，而不会危及自身安全，而且这种政策“完全合法”。
他的组织起诉了第一届特朗普政府，以保护移民人口众多的切尔西和劳伦斯市。该案于 2017 年 5 月“行政结案”或搁置。
现在，随着特朗普重回白宫，埃斯皮诺萨-马德里加尔表示，他的组织已准备好“反击”。
“联邦政府不能因为移民友好社区行使权力和自由裁量权而取消其资金或对其进行处罚，”他说。“如果犯罪目击者和受害者不愿意站出来帮助警方调查，那么我们所有人都会面临危险。”
甚至在特朗普上任之前，马萨诸塞州的领导人就已经做好了应对特朗普政府对当地政府影响的准备。在波士顿市长米歇尔·吴表示地方当局不会帮助特朗普承诺的驱逐出境后，他的新任边境沙皇在 1 月初表示，她应该“滚开”。另外，帮助特朗普当选的亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克声称，马萨诸塞州的庇护城市正在“保护儿童强奸犯”，此前梅休因和大巴灵顿的三名无证移民分别面临针对儿童的刑事指控或定罪。
特朗普周二在其首批移民行政命令之一中指示其官员评估“试图干涉联邦执法行动合法性”的庇护管辖区是否应失去联邦资金。
马萨诸塞州还为数千个移民家庭提供了紧急住房，州长莫拉·希利表示，州警察“绝对不会”参与大规模驱逐行动。周三，在一次无关的活动中被问及此事时，希利表示她“并不担心”。
“这里的官员遵守法律。我们不是庇护州，”她说。
然而，希利确实表示，她担心移民人口所在的社区“可能因为一些言论而感到非常恐惧”。
在布里斯托尔县，近 15% 的居民出生在其他国家，警长保罗·赫鲁表示，他的机构在法律允许的有限范围内与联邦移民当局合作。
如果移民局拘留了移民和海关执法局发出拘留请求的人，他的办公室会向移民当局发出警报，该请求允许执法部门在非公民被释放后将其拘留长达两天。本周，665 名囚犯中约有 10 人被拘留。
但他的办公室不会为 ICE 拘留即将被释放且不受 ICE 拘留令保护的人，因为这样做会与他们 2017 年马萨诸塞州最高司法法院裁决规定的法律相冲突。
“我们无权执行联邦法律，”他说，并补充说他们无论如何都没有足够的人手来执行。
萨默维尔市议会议长朱迪·皮涅达·纽菲尔德 (Judy Pineda Neufeld) 去年年底与同事共同起草了一项决议，重申了该市的庇护地位，她表示该指令不会改变这一承诺。
“我很幸运能加入一个我们都同意要保护我们的移民家庭和邻居免受即将发生的事情影响的议会，”纽菲尔德说。
纽菲尔德说，特朗普当选后，移民家庭之间的紧张关系已经加剧，她听到学生家长担心“他们的学校不再是他们和家人的安全之地”。
她说，她预见到市议会（无法制定移民政策）将努力让城市中的移民知道他们可以获得哪些资源，包括法律援助。
“我个人致力于，我知道议会也致力于，尽我们所能保护我们的移民家庭和邻居，”纽菲尔德说。
《波士顿环球报》的 Spencer Buell 和 Sean Cotter 对本报告做出了贡献。
题图：2017 年，一群人呼吁市议会将牛顿打造为“欢迎城市”。John Blanding
附原英文报道：
In Mass., Trump administration threats against ‘sanctuary cities’ have chilling effect
By Samantha J. Gross Globe Staff,Updated January 22, 2025
A crowd called for the city council to make Newton a “Welcoming City” in 2017.John Blanding
Massachusetts political and law enforcement officials now face the threat of federal prosecution if they resist or fail to comply with the Trump administration’s plan to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants living in their communities, according to a memo sent to employees of the Justice Department this week.
The department ordered federal prosecutors Tuesday to investigate state or local officials they believe are interfering with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, saying they could face criminal charges, in an apparent warning to the dozens of jurisdictions across the country with “sanctuary” policies or procedures.
One such community is Easthampton, whose mayor, Nicole LaChapelle, called the memo “chilling.”
“We can affirm and pledge to stand with all of our residents,” said LaChapelle, whose city adopted a “welcoming” ordinance in 2021. “But the federal government is the federal government . . . That is a dark specter over people’s lives.”
Leaders of sanctuary cities in Massachusetts and other state officials largely rejected the department’s order, which they say clashes with federal laws and which experts add is unenforceable. But the Trump administration’s decision to identify and target leaders of such cities thrusts many Massachusetts municipalities into the spotlight of the immigration debate.
The directive, which was sent by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, said that states and municipalities with sanctuary policies in place could “threaten public safety” and are inconsistent with the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives. It also made clear the administration’s focus is to target undocumented immigrants accused of criminal activity.
“Indeed, it is the responsibility of the Justice Department to defend the Constitution,” wrote Bove, who prior to joining the Trump administration was part of the legal team that defended the president against two criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.
The action comes amid a flurry of others taken by the Trump administration in the first few days of the administration, including deploying more active-duty troops to the southern border, pledging to expel migrants who cross the border illegally instead of allowing them to request asylum, and suspending travel for refugees with plans to enter the United States. And on Wednesday, Congress passed a measure to deport immigrants accused of certain crimes — which the administration has underscored in its messaging and a key point Trump made on the campaign trail.
There is no formal legal definition of a sanctuary city, which has become political shorthand for communities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities and detain someone based solely on their immigration status. In Massachusetts, State Police are barred from assisting in deportation efforts in cases where there is no criminal offense, since undocumented presence alone is not considered a crime at the state level.
Both municipal leaders and lawyers say the Trump administration’s threats at cities and towns could challenge the constitutional separation of powers and other protections, including state sovereignty, freedom of speech, and protections from unreasonable search and seizure.
Hemanth C. Gundavaram, cofounder and director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at Northeastern University School of Law, said that regardless of the legality, the point of the Trump administration’s order could be to simply instill fear in local leaders.
“Are you doing it because you think you’ll win, or are you doing it because you’ll scare people?” said Gundavaram. “The fear can be as effective as doing something.”
Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, said one benefit of sanctuary policies is they allow undocumented people who are victims of crime or witnesses to cooperate with law enforcement without risking their own safety, and such policies are “completely legal.”
His group sued the first Trump administration to protect Chelsea and Lawrence, cities with large immigrant populations. The case was “administratively closed” or put on hold in May 2017.
Now, with Trump back in office, Espinoza-Madrigal said his organization is readying to “push back.”
“The federal government cannot defund or penalize immigrant-friendly communities for exercising their authority and discretion,” he said. “And if witnesses and victims of crime do not feel comfortable coming forward to help with police investigations, it makes us all unsafe.”
Even before Trump took office, Massachusetts leaders were bracing for the impact of the Trump administration on its local governments. After Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said local authorities wouldn’t help with Trump’s pledged deportations, his incoming border czar earlier in January said she should get “the hell out of the way.” Separately, billionaire Elon Musk, who helped get Trump elected, claimed that Massachusetts sanctuary cities were “protecting child rapists,” following arrests of three undocumented immigrants in Methuen and Great Barrington who faced separate criminal charges or convictions of sex offenses against children.
In one of his first executive orders on immigration, Trump on Tuesday directed his officials to evaluate whether sanctuary jurisdictions that “seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations” should lose federal funding.
Massachusetts has also provided emergency housing for thousands of migrant families, and Governor Maura Healey said State Police would “absolutely not” participate in mass deportations. When asked about the issue at an unrelated event Wednesday, Healey said she is “not concerned.”
“Officials here follow the law. We’re not a sanctuary state,” she said.
However, Healey did say she is concerned for communities with immigrant populations that “may be feeling a lot of fear based on some of the rhetoric.”
In Bristol County, where nearly 15 percent of residents were born in another country, Sheriff Paul Heroux said his agency works with federal immigration authorities in the limited capacity allowed by law.
His office alerts immigration authorities if it is holding someone for whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a request for detention, which allows law enforcement to hold a noncitizen for up to two days after they would otherwise be released. This week, about 10 of 665 inmates were the subject of detainers.
But his office will not hold someone for ICE who is set to be released and is not covered by an ICE detainer, because doing so would put them in conflict with a law set out by a 2017 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision.
“We’re not allowed to enforce federal law,” he said, adding that they wouldn’t have the staffing to do so, anyway.
Somerville City Council President Judy Pineda Neufeld, who coauthored a resolution passed by her colleagues late last year reaffirming the city’s sanctuary status, said the directive wouldn’t change that commitment.
“I’m lucky to sit on a council where we all agree that we want to protect our immigrant families and neighbors from what’s coming,” Neufeld said.
Neufeld said that tension is already ramping up among immigrant families after Trump’s election, and that she has heard from parents of students who worry “about their schools no longer being a safe place for them and their families.”
She said she foresees the City Council, which can’t set immigration policy, will work so that immigrants in the city know what resources are available to them, including legal aid.
“I am committed personally, and I know the council is committed, to doing everything that we can to protect our immigrant families and neighbors,” Neufeld said.
Spencer Buell and Sean Cotter of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
