(The Center Square) – Ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deport illegal border crossers, with the most violent offenders the priority, Boston City Council members voted to advance the city’s so-called sanctuary city status as one of its city council members, a west-African immigrant, was arrested and her husband is in prison for murder.
On Wednesday, the all-Democratic city council unanimously voted to reaffirm the Boston Trust Act, which prohibits Boston Police Department officers from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with some exceptions.
City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, the first Haitian elected in Boston, introduced the resolution, which states in part, “The City of Boston shall continue to monitor and respond to federal immigration policies that may impact its residents, reaffirming its commitment to protect immigrant communities from unjust enforcement actions.”
The vote came after Boston’s Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu said the city didn’t plan on cooperating with Trump’s deportation plan. She told a local news outlet that while the federal government “is responsible for a certain set of actions, and cities, no individual city, can reverse or override some parts of that, … what we can do is make sure that we are doing our part to protect our residents in every possible way, that we are not cooperating with those efforts that actually threaten the safety of everyone by causing widespread fear and having large scale economic impact.”
In response, Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan, said, “she’s not very smart.”
Homan has explained the deportation plan will prioritize removing the most dangerous criminals, The Center Square reported.
“What mayor or governor doesn’t want public safety threats out of their communities?” he told Newsmax. “That’s their number one responsibility is to protect their communities. That’s exactly what we are going to do. Either she helps us, or she gets the hell out of the way.”
“There’s a clear line here and they can’t cross a clear line. I suggest she read Title 8 USC 13.24 iii that says you can’t harbor or conceal illegal aliens from federal law enforcement officers.”
Two days after the vote, one of the city council members, Tania Fernandes Anderson, who’d been under federal investigation, was arrested by the FBI on corruption charges. Anderson, the first Muslim elected to the city council, is from the Republica of Cabo Verde, an island off the coast of West Africa.
According to a federal indictment, she faces five federal counts of wire fraud and one federal count of theft related to receiving federal funds. The six felony charges “stem from an alleged kickback scheme that she orchestrated to obtain several thousand dollars in taxpayer money in exchange for a bribe she paid to a staffer who she gave a very large bonus,” U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a news conference on Friday. “All of that money was funded by the taxpayers of the city of Boston.”
This is after she agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for violating a state conflict of interest law for hiring her sister and son as city council staff, according to a state ethics commission investigation.
Wu and other city council members encouraged Anderson to resign.
Her husband, Tanzerious Anderson, is serving time in prison after he was convicted of murdering a Lebanese immigrant, committing armed robbery and illegally possessing a firearm.
Massachusetts leaders have come under fire for their policies related to illegal border crossers and so-called sanctuary policies.
Last year, Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll urged residents to house illegal border crossers, saying, “step up if you’re willing to have an additional family be part of your family.” One year later, the state converted an empty former prison to house them, resulting in local outrage, The Center Square reported.
In response, New Hampshire’s incoming-Gov. Kelly Ayotte said the Granite State would be implementing the opposite policies.
“Our neighbors to the south seem intent on proving that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. As they struggle with a billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis, they are instead choosing to double down,” she told Fox News digital.
Ayotte, who is replacing outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu, ran on a campaign against the “Mass-i-fication” of New Hampshire.
“Here in New Hampshire, we are going to ban sanctuary policies and give law enforcement the tools to work together to ensure this crisis never comes to our towns,” she said.