Wu pointed to the Boston Trust Act tthe city passed in 2014 which prohibits local police from detaining immigrants for possible deportation by federal authorities unless a criminal warrant has been issued for the person’s arrest.

Despite those assurances, people in immigrant communities have shown reluctance amid tough rhetoric in Trump’s first term to do even ordinary things like send their children to school, she said.

“When fear exists, it completely changes how residents feel comfortable interacting with our school system, city services, coming to the library, interacting with law enforcement or first responders,” Wu said. “And that makes everyone less safe.”

The trust deed will keep Boston police should not participate in any large-scale deportation effort, she said.

“The idea that certain local law enforcement agencies will be required or expected to participate in mass deportations of residents who have not been part of serious criminal activity just to fulfill this campaign promise, it does not it’s something that’s possible under the laws of Boston,” Wu said.

Asked whether local laws could prevent federal authorities from carrying out mass deportations within city limits, Wu was circumspect.

“We’re trying to figure it out and we’re going to be working very closely, we’ve already got some conversations planned with the people who will know best how to handle each planning part of the scenario in this case,” she said.

“I think there are capacity limitations at various levels, and part of what was promised (by Trump) is based on the full cooperation of local agencies,” she continued. “Now, in places where that’s not the case, how much could happen and how much it’s going to be pushed, we have other mechanisms where we can identify the spaces that could be most targeted and think about protections there . So we’re working on all of that internally now. And, you know, 69 days until the inauguration, we’re counting it down.”

In September, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign said Trump “will organize all federal and state powers necessary to institute the largest operation to deport illegal criminals, drug dealers and human traffickers,” the Associated Press reported.

Trump said he would focus on deploying the National Guard, whose troops can be activated at the governor’s order. Help Trump Stephen Miller said that troops under sympathetic Republican governors would send troops to nearby states that refused to participate.

Former President Barack Obama carried out 432,000 deportations in 2013, the highest annual total since records were kept. Deportations under Trump never topped 350,000 during his first term.

I was asked on Tuesday to explain Trump’s increased support last week, even in blue enclaves like Massachusetts, Wu cited the corrosive influence of social media as a factor.

“I think the shift in social media has been a factor in this,” Wu said. “The fact that one of the biggest platforms is owned by somebody, a billionaire, who ultimately, you know, through algorithms and everything else, you couldn’t log into that site without seeing the political push directly from the owner. .. Elon Musk, who will now be very active in determining what comes next.”

Musk was a vocal campaign surrogate for Trumppouring around $200 million in a Super PAC for his campaign, building a ground operation in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, throwing his social network, X, behind Trump and appearing in person with Trump at campaign rallies.

Trump has not announced any official role for Musk in his second administration.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected].