Boston councilors propose emergency fund to support immigrants
A new fund proposed by Boston city councilors this week would support immigrant residents in emergencies as they face threats from the federal government.
City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, who filed an order this week to explore how such a fund could be established, explained at Wednesday's council meeting that it could support families struggling to pay bills in the event they lose their work authorizations or cover legal expenses for those facing deportation.
"When federal immigration policy shifts overnight, it affects our neighbors, it affects our residents. And so we have to be prepared," she said. "We learned a lot during the COVID pandemic about how we support mutual aid organizations, about how we support community-based organizations and we need to make sure that we're transferring what we've learned over to this current crisis."
Louijeune said her office has already been working with local nonprofit organizations to establish a fund, supported by a mix of public and private money. She compared the situation to last year when a federal government shutdown paused SNAP benefits for households struggling to afford food, prompting community groups to step up to fill the gaps.
She noted that President Donald Trump's administration has threatened to terminate Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from some countries, which would end their ability to legally work. TPS for Haitian immigrants was set to expire earlier this month before a federal judge blocked it while the decision makes its way through the courts.
District 9 Councilor Liz Breadon, who represents Allston and Brighton, said that when a group of workers at an Allston car wash were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in November, local community groups were ready to support them with their legal defense costs. She said it was important that they were immediately prepared to help, as some of the workers were "whisked away" to ICE detention facilities as far away as Texas.
"We know ICE isn't done with Boston," Breadon said. "When incidents like this occur, every second counts. The creation of a scalable emergency support fund for incidents will allow us as a city to be better prepared for when ICE strikes next."
It was not immediately clear how much money would be contained in the fund.
A hearing will be held by the Committee on Civil Rights, Racial Equity and Immigrant Advancement at a later date.
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