In Worcester, where a city councilor has offered a resolution that would officially declare the city not to be a “sanctuary city,” Mayor Joseph Petty plans to address demonstrators rallying in solidarity with immigrants and refugees outside City Hall Tuesday evening.
The group will be “peacefully protesting President Trump’s executive actions on immigration and recent, divisive city council orders,” according to Petty’s office.
President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order designed to prevent travelers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen who are not U.S. citizens from entering the country for 90 days and suspending refugee admissions for 120 days.
Worcester’s City Council is meeting Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., with an agenda that includes items dealing with enforcement of federal immigration law.
Councilor Konstantina Lukes has offered an order requesting the city manager provide the council “with a recommendation establishing a policy of cooperating with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding requests/detainers to our Police Department to hold non-citizens who have been arrested for the commission of a crime so that federal officials can take them into custody.” The policy would not apply to refugees, asylum seekers or visa-holders. Lukes is also requesting a report on how the city “would replace lost federal funding due to a sanctuary city status without raising taxes.”
Councilor Michael Gaffney has offered a resolution that would officially declare Worcester not to be a “sanctuary city.”
The rally, hosted by Showing Up for Racial Justice Worcester, is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. outside Worcester City Hall
