BOSTON — Two Massachusetts cities with large Latino populations have sued President Donald Trump over his threat to cut federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities.
The lawsuit filed by Chelsea and Lawrence in federal court in Boston on Wednesday says Trump’s executive order to withdraw funding from communities that decline to cooperate with federal immigration authorities “constitutes unconstitutional coercion” and is “a major affront to basic principles of federalism and the separation of powers.”
San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit last week.
The Massachusetts suit says the president’s order was made without Congressional approval, and is overly broad. The suit says losing federal funding could cause significant hardship.
About 62 percent of Chelsea’s nearly 40,000 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. Nearly 74 percent of Lawrence’s 80,000 residents identify as Hispanic or Latino.
HOLYOKE — A Holyoke woman says in a lawsuit that her 12-year-old son was beaten unconscious by three city police officers responding to reports of gunfire.
The suit filed Tuesday names the city and the three officers as defendants. It says police on Feb. 8, 2014 responded to reports of a suicidal man and shots fired at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge. The boy and another neighbor had tried to follow the man to the bridge to reason with him.
According to the suit, officers disarmed the suicidal man. The boy “panicked” and tried to flee. The suit says officers ordered the boy to kneel and seized and beat him.
Holyoke officials say the city hasn’t yet been served with the complaint.
EASTHAMPTON — Authorities in Massachusetts are investigating multiple explosions that took place in the city of Easthampton over the weekend.
Police Chief Robert Alberti said Tuesday the department received reports of explosions Sunday night in the Ferry Street area and an area near Lower Mill Pond.
Alberti says officers found detonated explosive devices as well as undetonated ones along the southern bank of the pond.
He says the investigation was ongoing Tuesday and involves the state fire marshal’s office and the FBI.
From Associated Press