O-21. June 10, 2002
COUNCILLOR DAVIS
COUNCILLOR DECKER
COUNCILLOR MURPHY
WHEREAS: The residents of the City of Cambridge wish to
honor the memory of all those who have died as a result of
the September 11 crimes and their consequences; and
WHEREAS: The City of Cambridge has a tradition of
inclusion and extending protections to all its residents as
embodied in its Human Rights Ordinance; and
WHEREAS: The Bill of Rights of the United States
Constitution and the Constitution of Massachusetts
guarantee those living in the United States the following
rights: Freedom of speech, assembly and privacy; Equality
before the law and the presumption of innocence; Access to
counsel and due process in judicial proceedings; and
Protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; and
WHEREAS: We believe these civil liberties are precious and
are now threatened by the USA PATRIOT Act, which: All
but eliminates judicial supervision of telephone and
Internet surveillance; Greatly expands the government's
ability to conduct secret searches without warrants; Grants
unchecked power to the Secretary of State to designate
domestic groups as "terrorist organizations"; Grants power
to the Attorney General to subject non-citizens to indefinite
detention or deportation even if they have not committed a
crime; Grants the FBI broad access to sensitive medical,
mental health, financial and educational records about
individuals without having to show evidence of a crime and
without a court order; and
WHEREAS: Federal Executive Orders issued since passage of
the USA PATRIOT Act further endanger the rights and
security of both citizens and non-citizens who speak and
act legally in opposition to government policies through:
Establishing secret military tribunals for terrorism suspects;
Authorizing eavesdropping on confidential
communications between lawyers and their clients in
federal custody; Lifting Justice Department regulations
against covert, illegal counter-intelligence operations by the
FBI that in the past targeted domestic groups and
individuals; Limiting disclosure of public documents and
records under the Freedom of Information Act; and
WHEREAS: Cambridge's representative in Congress Michael
Capuano, along with his Massachusetts colleagues,
Representatives Frank, McGovern, Olver, and Tierney,
found the USA PATRIOT Act inappropriate and dangerous
enough to join 66 other representatives in voting against it;
and
WHEREAS: This law and these executive orders particularly
target foreign nationals and people of Middle Eastern and
South Asian descent but could affect any one of us in the
USA acting legally and speaking against in opposing
government policy and
WHEREAS: In Zadvydas v. Davis this past session the U.S.
Supreme Court affirmed that "the Due Process Clause
applies to all 'persons' within the United States, including
aliens, whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful,
temporary, or permanent"; and
WHEREAS: A 1985 City Council resolution declared the City
of Cambridge "A Sanctuary City" in which city
departments and employees are committed to protect
refugees from: requests for information about, or
conditioning receipt of city services on, citizenship status;
"Investigations or arrest procedures, public or clandestine,
relating to alleged violations of immigration law..."; and
Deportation and dangerous returns to their homelands; and
WHEREAS: Through its diversity committee, its support for
the Immigrant Voting Rights proposal, and its annual
Holocaust commemoration resolution, the City of
Cambridge has gone on record "affirming of our diversity"
and the need to "be eternally vigilant against all forms of
bigotry in our community and elsewhere"; now therefore,
be it
RESOLVED: That the City of Cambridge reaffirm its status as
"A Sanctuary City," move beyond fear and through grief to
respond with love and compassion by defending the human
rights protections and civil liberties for all spelled out in the
Bill of Rights and the Massachusetts constitution because,
without these, little is left of the democracy or justice they
intend to protect; and be it further
RESOLVED: That the City of Cambridge affirm its
commitment to embodying democracy, to embracing and
defending the human rights and civil liberties now under
siege, to guaranteeing the economic security required to
make those liberties viable for all, regardless of citizenship
status, gender, racial identification, religious affiliation,
age, or country of origin; and be it further
RESOLVED: That the City Council declares that no City of
Cambridge department or employee, to the extent legally
possible, violate this city's existing and herewith reaffirmed
policy to serve as a sanctuary for the persecuted; and
further
RESOLVED: That the government of the City of Cambridge
act in the spirit of our state and federal Constitutions by
asking local and state police, the local U.S. Attorney's
office, and the FBI to:
Report to citizens regularly and publicly the extent to and
manner in which they have acted under the USA
PATRlOT Act or new Executive Orders, including
disclosing the names of any detainees;
Not participate, to the extent legally permissible, in law
enforcement activities that threaten civil rights and civil
liberties of the people of Cambridge, such as
surveillance, wiretaps, and securing of private
information, which the Act and Orders authorize;
End racial profiling in law enforcement and detentions
without charges; and
Openly work for the repeal of the parts of the Act and
Orders that violate civil rights and civil liberties