Mayor Paul Lundberg issued an executive order Friday prohibiting federal immigration officials from using Gloucester-owned buildings as staging locations or places to detain individuals.
The order also calls for Gloucester Police to investigate alleged crimes by federal agents and release “surveillance and/or footage of violent actions,” Lundberg said.
The mayor said the order was needed due to what he said was confusion related to possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in Gloucester.
“We just want to be ready in case something does happen,” he said. “Clarity is important if you need to do anything. I think it is important as a community that we express our feelings about this.”
The order, based on possible “unconstitutional and violent federal operations in the city of Gloucester,” was made in coordination with the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Lynn, Newton and Chelsea, according to a statement offered by the mayor’s office Friday afternoon.
“Because the municipalities are responsible for enforcing the law, we thought it was time to issue an executive order to clarify what local law enforcement should be expected to do when we have an incident where ICE is operating in our city,” Lundberg said.
Citing what is described as a “coordinated regional approach” to the issue, elements in the mayor’s order include a prohibition on federal immigration officials, including ICE agents, from using city-owned buildings, including schools, libraries and community centers, as staging locations or places to detain individuals.
In the statement, Lundberg assured the community that Gloucester’s public safety agencies, including the Police Department, would continue to respond “when needed.” He also said authorities would work to “deescalate and all interactions between federal agents and the public,” that Gloucester Police will investigate accusations made against federal agents, and release “surveillance and/or footage of violent actions.”
According to Lundberg’s executive order, in the event of federal operations by ICE or other federal agents, Gloucester, through its public safety agencies, shall ensure, consistent with long-standing practice, that “established de-escalation protocols are used to protect peaceful protesters and ensure public safety across the city.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu signed an executive order aimed at protecting her city’s residents against “unconstitutional and violent federal enforcement.”
The order holds that local police are obligated to protect residents, and says the city refuses to assist “federal commandeering of local resources.”
Several communities in Massachusetts echoed the sentiments made by Boston’s Wu and Gloucester’s Lundberg.
In Worcester, community activists and leaders commended the city for barring federal immigration agents from using municipal property to stage operations.
Worcester City Manager Eric Batista’s office said that federal agents cannot use public spaces, such as parks, garages and parking lots to assemble, mobilize or deploy vehicles and personnel to carry out immigration operations.
Lundberg and the other mayors’ executive orders follow the filing of a bill late last month by Gov. Maura Healey in response to the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. Healey’s bill would ban federal immigration agents in pursuit of undocumented persons from entering “sensitive” locations such as public schools, courthouses, hospitals, churches and other places of worship without a judicial warrant.
Healey’s bill would also prohibit the federal government from activating the Massachusetts National Guard for immigration enforcement without the governor’s permission, and allow parents to pre-arrange guardianship for their children in case they are detained or deported.