In an 11-0 vote, the Boston City Council passed an emergency resolution Wednesday that condemns the recent killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis as “unjustified, unlawful, and incompatible with constitutional governance and due process.”
In addition, the resolution decries what it describes as attempts to justify the use of lethal force after the fact through “false or inflammatory narratives,” an allusion to statements made by members of the Trump administration after Good and Pretti’s deaths. Councilors are calling for independent investigations into Good and Pretti’s killings, including appropriate civil and criminal penalties if warranted.
The resolution also points out that other individuals have died in interactions with ICE or while in ICE custody. And it warns that “the militarized presence of federal agents in civilian communities pose[s] an immediate threat to public safety, civil rights, and community stability, including in Boston.”
“No government agency — none — has the authority to act as the judge, jury and executioner,” Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, the resolution’s lead sponsor, said before the vote. “Extrajudicial killings violate the Constitution, they violate human rights, and violate the most basic standard of democracy.
“Boston has a responsibility to say that out loud, and it is a declaration that Boston will not be silent when federal power is abused,” she added. ”We are a city built on resistance to unchecked power.”
Unlike the Boston Trust Act, which places strict limits on the Boston Police Department’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities, the new resolution does not affect policy.
Still, the symbolic vote shows that the Boston City Council, where progressives and moderates have frequently disagreed on key issues, is of one mind when it comes to the recent use of lethal force by federal immigration authorities.
Another sponsor of the resolution, Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, said the council’s action was important because it acknowledges the federal government’s recent actions as a departure from democratic norms.
“We are living in wicked times. ... It’s important for people in Minneapolis, in Maine, around the country [to know] that what’s happening by masked agents, it’s not happening in our name, and that we push back against it,” Louijeune said.
The council has a long history of weighing in on national and international topics outside its policymaking purview, including Apartheid in South Africa and nuclear disarmament.
On Wednesday, the council also considered a resolution in support of a pending state Senate bill that would limit the ability of federal agents to make arrests in or at Massachusetts courthouses.
Among other things, that bill would require that any members of law enforcement entering a courthouse to observe or arrest an individual identify themselves to court personnel and provide copies of any pertinent warrants or orders for review In addition, it would effectively ban the wearing of masks in court by members of law enforcement.
On Wednesday, though, that resolution was derailed through a procedural move by Councilor Ed Flynn, who noted that the Senate bill has not yet received a full hearing and said he wants to learn more about it before publicly backing it.
In the Massachusetts House, a bill to prevent federal immigration authorities from wearing masks during enforcement operations has languished since last year, with critics calling it basically unenforceable.
