In the hours after Donald Trump took office as the 47th president of the United States, he signed a flurry of executive orders to crack down on legal and illegal immigration.
One such order requires the military to assist with immigration enforcement. The document directs the Department of Defense to produce a plan to “seal the borders” and repel “forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also rolled back rules that prevented immigration enforcement near hospitals, crisis centers, disaster sites, places of worship, playgrounds and schools, including colleges and universities.
Gov. Maura Healey said during a Jan. 23 press conference that immigration enforcement is up to the federal government.
“Officials here follow the law. We’re not a sanctuary state,” Healey said.
However, state law prevents local law enforcement from complying with certain government requests, such as “civil immigration detainers,” which ask local officials to hold undocumented immigrants after they are supposed to be released until ICE can take custody.
Boston’s city council voted unanimously in December to remain a sanctuary city, meaning city resources and law enforcement agencies will not assist the federal government with immigration enforcement.
“Boston has a proud history of welcoming immigrants who have enriched the city’s culture, economy, and community, yet proposals for mass deportations represent a direct attack on Boston’s immigrant families, and threaten to tear communities apart,” the city council resolution reads.
Reuters reported last week that ICE agents in Newark, New Jersey, which is also a sanctuary city, raided a worksite without a warrant and detained citizens in addition to undocumented immigrants.
ICE must have a warrant signed by a judge to enter a home or other non-public place without permission, according to the National Immigration Law Center. ICE administrative warrants, signed by ICE employees rather than judges, are insufficient.
“Do not open your door unless ICE shows you a judicial search or arrest warrant naming a person in your residence and/or areas to be searched at your address,” the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in an immigrants’ rights fact sheet. “If they don’t produce a warrant, keep the door closed.”
“You have the right to remain silent and do not have to discuss your immigration or citizenship status with police, immigration agents, or other officials,” the ACLU wrote. However, noncitizens who have their immigration documents with them must show them if asked, according to the ACLU.
Trump indefinitely stopped refugee resettlement and eliminated the CBP One app, which allowed immigrants seeking asylum to schedule appointments to enter the U.S. at a border crossing, rather than applying after entering illegally or using a temporary visa. Both programs were pathways to legal immigration.
Another executive order sought to deny birthright citizenship to children whose parents are in the country illegally when they are born. The order would have gone into effect for children born beginning Feb. 19, but a federal court in Washington blocked the order nationwide in less than three days, in response to a lawsuit filed by four states.
At the case’s first hearing, the judge called the order “blatantly unconstitutional.” The 14th Amendment has been interpreted since its ratification to mean that anyone born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen. A separate challenge — filed by 18 states, the District of Columbia and the City of San Francisco — is pending in federal courts in Massachusetts.
