My main goal is to project equal/human rights to community resources. In that light, I organized an effort, and negotiated with police and other officials, to get a local policy in place to protect immigrants' rights to due process.
The policy that we put forth is limited to arrest status information and immigrant status. BUT it doesn't prevent booking and other information from being shared. There is strong evidence that this policy should be stronger actually, to protect immigrants and all people from having their personal information shared unnecessarily in national databases which help fuel investigations nationwide when there is strong evidence to indicate that there are issues with unconstitutional arrests that are occurring after federal agents gain access to information provided by local police. Just because someone is arrested, doesn't mean that they are guilty. Until someone is convicted of a crime, sharing data can be dangerous. We must remember that immigrants are more vulnerable and require due process more than the rest of us.
Either way, I do not support the use of the phrase "Sanctuary Town". After feedback from people who I respect, I realized that the phrase "Sanctuary Town" is not productive for several reasons. There is no legal definition of what this means. So it is, effectively, meaningless, perhaps even dangerous if people think that Acton is a sanctuary, and it isn't. I fought hard in the "Sanctuary Town" group that I helped start, to change the name. But my proposal was outvoted. Sadly, I was the only one who voted to change the name.
I am collaborative and want to uphold the group's decision, even if I don't agree with it. So I continue to participate in the group, with the understanding that I do NOT support the name "Sanctuary Town".
