Newton Mayor: 'Of Course I Would' Offer City Hall as Safe Haven For Immigrants

NEWTON, MA – Newton Mayor Setti Warren said Wednesday he would offer up city hall as a safe haven for undocumented immigrants if the Trump administration ramped up deportations, echoing a similar pledge made by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh earlier this year.

"If in fact there are draconian measures taken by the federal government and people feel unsafe and they need places to go, of course I would," Warren said in an interview with Boston Herald Radio. "I think that’s who we are, that’s who our values are. I think you’d find a lot of people in my city who would open their doors."

The mayor's comments reaffirm Newton's stance as a "Welcoming City," which was passed as a city ordinance earlier this year. While not establishing Newton as a sanctuary in the vein of Somerville or Cambridge, the ordinance limits local law enforcement's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Sanctuary cities and municipalities enacting related legislation were put under the microscope this week following renewed warnings from Attorney General Jeff Sessions that they would lose federal funding and a call for elected officials in sanctuary cities to be arrested.

Warren also touched on his possible run for governor and the issues he would address in his interview with the Herald.

>>>Listen to Mayor Warren's full interview with Boston Herald Radio

Photo: Setti Warren (Flickr: desk) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons