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Chelsea, Massachusetts, a municipality just outside Boston, calls itself a 鈥渟anctuary city,鈥� meaning it limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

But now, the Trump administration鈥檚 moves to deport unauthorized immigrants, and some who are in the U.S. legally, are raising the question here of whether the city鈥檚 鈥渟anctuary鈥� label holds meaning. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expanded its operations in the city, residents say, spreading fear and suspicion in this working-class community.

Seeking to hold on to what they say is essential to their identities, Chelsea and nearby Somerville have sued to prevent the Trump administration from withholding millions in federal funding. Other cities, from San Francisco to New Haven, Connecticut, have filed similar lawsuits.

Like other sanctuary cities, Chelsea and Somerville do not prevent ICE operations. But police there do not help ICE with arrests, and cannot routinely ask about, or investigate, immigration status. The cities also hold people suspected of violating immigration laws only if ordered to do so by a judge 鈥� a statewide requirement because of a 2017 court ruling.

Yet distress over ICE鈥檚 activity is apparent in Chelsea, where 45% of people are foreign-born and nearly two-thirds are Latino.

Trust has 鈥渇ractured鈥� in the community, says Laura, who works in Chelsea and asked that her last name not be used because she has overstayed a student visa. People are afraid their neighbors will call ICE on them. Federal policies and court decisions are in flux. Misinformation is rampant on Facebook.

On a sunny March day, the line for a food pantry stretches around the block. It鈥檚 run by La Colaborativa, a nonprofit that serves mostly immigrant communities. People push shopping carts, carry reusable bags, and have scattered conversations mostly in Spanish 鈥� but also in French, Arabic, and English.

Jos茅 Ventura, a U.S. citizen who arrived in Chelsea from the Dominican Republic in 1979, says the husband of one of his granddaughters was deported. 鈥淗er mind has been stuck on that since then,鈥� he says in Spanish. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been hard for me to witness that.鈥�

Rosa Perlera, also a U.S. citizen, says fear of deportation is leading people to not take their children to school or show up for work聽鈥� and some have even lost their jobs.

The legal fight over the meaning of sanctuary

The cities suing the government say they are under no legal obligation to help enforce federal immigration law and that their policies boost public safety. Critics say they鈥檙e obstructing federal law enforcement and protecting criminals. In a social media post about ICE activity in Massachusetts, President Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥渂order czar鈥� Tom Homan said sanctuary cities release 鈥渟afety threats back into the public.鈥�

Experts say sanctuary policies are misunderstood. Sanctuary has no legal definition, and varies depending on the place.

No mayor of a city 鈥渉ides illegal aliens under their desk or puts them in city hall,鈥� says Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. Sanctuary jurisdictions, in his view, decide their limited resources are better spent investigating people who commit serious crimes, rather than people who are in the United States illegally but are otherwise law-abiding.

But not everyone in Chelsea sees it that way. Todd Taylor was one of two city councilors who voted against reaffirming the policy, which passed 9-2 in 2020.

Mr. Taylor says Chelsea is overburdened with unauthorized immigrants living in unsafe conditions. The city鈥檚 status does little good, he says, and it threatens the loss of badly needed federal funds. That money goes toward infrastructure projects, local law enforcement, schoolchildren who need extra support, and services like food pantries and elder care.

The lawsuit is 鈥減olitical posturing鈥� by the Democratic Party, he says, and Chelsea is a 鈥減awn.鈥�

Precedent is on the cities鈥� side. Judges mostly ruled in favor of sanctuary cities when Mr. Trump tried to slash their federal funding during his first administration, says Oren Sellstrom, a lawyer representing Somerville and Chelsea. Appeals courts ruled that withholding federal funding as punishment for sanctuary policies would violate the 10th Amendment, which allows states and localities to regulate their own affairs. One appeals court, however, sided with Mr. Trump in a similar suit in 2020.

ICE raids in Chelsea

鈥淚t鈥檚 ridiculous鈥� that Chelsea calls itself a sanctuary, when ICE can detain people just heading to work in the morning, says Laura.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 just a statement to make politicians feel good about themselves right now,鈥� she adds.

Chelsea鈥檚 Market Basket is the flagship branch of the popular Northeast grocery chain. Most of the time, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 walk in an aisle without someone bumping into you,鈥� says Gladys Vega, president of La Colaborativa. 鈥淎nd the day after [federal agents] came, it was crickets. It was like [the] pandemic all over [again].鈥�

ICE made 370 arrests during an operation March 18-23 across Massachusetts, including in Chelsea, according to a press release that said 205 had 鈥渟ignificant criminal convictions or charges.鈥� Officials seized some illegal drugs and included lists of alleged criminal activity for some who were detained, but did not release their names.

Sanctuary policies can actually lead ICE agents to operate more in communities, says Theresa Brown, a former official in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security under the Bush and Obama administrations. If police don鈥檛 cooperate, she says, agents make arrests, and people without criminal records could be picked up as well.

The Trump administration says its priority is deporting unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes. Recently, it鈥檚 deported people it says are members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela gang. Yet an analysis by Bloomberg found that 90% of them lacked U.S. criminal records. A New York Times investigation had a similar finding. ICE Acting Field Office Director Robert Cerna indicated in a court filing that those who hadn鈥檛 committed crimes simply hadn鈥檛 been in the country long enough to do so.

This past Friday, a federal judge said the administration has deported people without notice or a chance to tell authorities they face danger if sent to another country, and ruled the administration can鈥檛 do that. The next day, the U.S. Supreme Court halted the administration鈥檚 attempt to deport Venezuelan men it says are gang members but who haven鈥檛 had their day in court. And on Sunday, in remarks commemorating the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord at the start of the American Revolution, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey referred to 鈥減eople being disappeared from our streets.鈥�

鈥淒ue process is a foundational right; if it can be discarded for one, it can be lost for all,鈥� she said.

Advocates for sanctuary cities argue that if unauthorized immigrants don鈥檛 fear being deported, they are more likely to report crimes. That makes the whole community safer, says Somerville City Councilor Matthew McLaughlin. Mr. McLaughlin鈥檚 family once lived in an apartment building alongside a family of immigrants whose home was burglarized.

鈥淚f they didn鈥檛 feel comfortable going to the police, they might be repeated victims. And that makes me vulnerable because someone could come along and say, 鈥楲et鈥檚 rob this other house while we鈥檙e here,鈥欌�� he says.

Sanctuary policies decrease deportations by about a third and have no appreciable effect on crime, according to a 2020 study by David Hausman, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He says increased immigration enforcement is unlikely to lower crime because immigrants already commit fewer offenses than those born in the U.S. Other studies have found that sanctuary policies can lower property crimes and increase the rate at which Hispanic women report domestic violence.

Simon Hankinson, a researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation, rejects the idea that cooperating with ICE threatens public safety. 鈥淲e all have to cooperate with laws that we don鈥檛 personally agree with,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you make a policy decision, as they have, to resist and make it harder for federal law enforcement to do their job, I think there are consequences to go with that.鈥�

In Chelsea, lives are being impacted despite the city鈥檚 sanctuary policies. Laura says she has friends in detention camps 鈥� some who were fleeing their home countries.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know how they鈥檙e gonna get back to their country [from the detention camp] with no family, no support, no money, no housing,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd you鈥檙e just gonna get thrown back into a system [you鈥檙e] running away from.鈥�