A city council committee meeting on Monday centered on Boston's Trust Act — a policy that has been in the national spotlight amid Republican-led criticism of so-called sanctuary cities.
Monday's Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee meeting saw members discuss an order for a hearing to "audit the implementation and effectiveness of the 2014 Boston Trust Act."
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Members of the public were allowed to testify, with supporters and detractors of the law speaking.
Under the Boston Trust Act, city police collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents only on matters of "significant public safety" and will not detain residents solely based on their immigration status.
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Last week, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu traveled to Washington D.C. to testify during a congressional hearing alongside three other mayors. The four mayors were put on the hot seat by Republican lawmakers who blasted them for their policies regarding ICE cooperation.
NBC10 Boston asked Wu over the weekend if the hearing went as she expected it to.
"I was warned it was going to be a long day and it certainly was, but I was incredibly proud to be able to stand up, raise my right hand, swear to tell the truth and say that Boston is the best city in the world," Wu said. "And it is the home that we've made it because of generations that have come before and because of the hard work that all of us are still putting in everyday."
Many members of city council stood by Boston's standing sanctuary law on Monday, with Council President Ruthzee Louijeune saying, "The Trust Act is doing what it's supposed to do."
But District 2 Councilor Ed Flynn insisted that members of the body aren't on the same page, and called for more robust hearings with the hope of bringing in federal voices.
"There has to be an open, respectful, civil conversation between all parties involved," he said.
District 5 Councilor Enrique Pepén said he thinks federal voices will be part of a subsequent hearing: "I think in this hearing, we're starting with a different set of voices to see what their priorities are and what are they fearing."
