Somerville holds off on vote to reconfirms sanctuary city status

The city council in Somerville, Massachusetts, held off on a vote to reconfirm its status as a sanctuary city on Thursday ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's second term.

Somerville has been a sanctuary city since 1987 and reconfirmed that status after Trump's first election in 2016.

The city council was supposed to vote Thursday night on whether to reconfirm that status, but it said it wanted to revisit the wording of the resolution first.

As it is written, the resolution maintains a fund for legal services and directs Somerville police and other city departments not to accept any federal funds that come with conditions that could be used to deport residents.

Trump campaigned on a promise of mass deportations. City Councilor Judy Pineda Neufeld said the city has been flooded with concerned calls since the election last week.

The council will vote on the resolution at the next meeting on Nov. 26.

"We are not going to turn our back on our immigrant neighbors and families and we are going to do everything we can," she said.

"We are trying to send a message because, at the end of the day, people deserve to live in peace and harmony and also in dignity," said Will Mbah, a city councilor at large who brought the resolution with Pineda Neufeld.

City councilors and members of the community spoke emotionally about the uncertainty the future holds as power shifts in Washington.

"In these increasingly hard times ... we will have to put our politics aside and really work together, united, and support our constituents as much as we can," City Councilor at Large Kristen Strezo said.