Springfield, Massachusetts, Mayor Domenic Sarno Takes On The First Amendment
DAVE ROBACK / THE REPUBLICAN / MASSLIVE.COM/PHOTOS
Ever since a Springfield, Massachusetts, church opened its doors last month to an undocumented woman from Peru about to be deported, Mayor Domenic Sarno has been trying to shut it down. The First Amendment could ultimately block him.
South Congregational Church is one of at least three houses of worship in Massachusetts choosing to provide sanctuary. Churches, synagogues and mosques are considered by the federal government as “sensitive locations” where immigration officials are less likely to enter.
But the church has created this safe place for Gisella Collazo in a city whose mayor was one of the first elected leaders to declare publicly in 2017 that Springfield is not a sanctuary city.
The term generally describes locales that don’t cooperate with federal immigration officials. Some communities began labeling themselves such as the Trump administration began to more actively enforce U.S. immigration laws.