Asked the City Manager to direct the relevant City staff and departments to examine if and how the City may prevent the hiring by the Cambridge Police Department of any sworn officer who was hired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, or Customs and Border Patrol, and report back to the City Council in a timely manner

How it started

Feb 5, 2026 · Proposed by Councillors Sobrinho-Wheeler and McGovern: a formal request from the Council to the administration. Joined at the meeting by Councillor Al-Zubi, added from the floor by motion.

What happened

Feb 9, 2026 · ✅ Order adopted as amended. The Council's request went to the City Manager. (Adopted as amended, unanimous)

Voted yes (9), unanimous

Ayah Al-Zubi
Burhan Azeem
Tim Flaherty
Marc McGovern
Patty Nolan
E. Denise Simmons
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
Cathie Zusy
Sumbul Siddiqui

Roll call of Feb 9, 2026 · from the council’s minutes · photos: City of Cambridge

What’s next

⌛ No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number. Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.

The document Agenda item attachment · 2 pages

🏛 The city's agenda for this meeting: Feb 9, 2026the city publishes no page for a single item: this one is a row on that agenda📄 Download original PDF

In January, Washington State Representative Tarra Simmons introduced the ICE Out

Act of 2026, HB 2641, which “prohibits all Washington state law enforcement agencies from hiring anyone who was a sworn officer of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on or after January 20, 2025,” and similar legislation has been introduced in the Maryland legislature; and

This City Council recognizes the Cambridge Police Department plays an important

role in keeping our city safe, and we hold our officers to a high standard, providing ample training to limit the implicit bias we all hold and prioritize de-escalation, to ensure our officers earn the trust and respect of the city they serve; and

Cambridge has a high standard for its law enforcement officers, most of whom carry a gun as part of their employment for the City, and this standard would be lowered if the City knowingly hired individuals who have shown a disregard for upholding our civil liberties and due process, abetted the extrajudicial killings of protesters and detainees, and a history of using violence and illegal tactics; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to direct the relevant City staff and departments to examine if and how the City may prevent the hiring by the Cambridge Police Department of any sworn officer who was by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, or Customs and Border Patrol; and be it further

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back to the City Council in a timely manner.

In City Council February 9, 2026. Adopted as Amended by a yea and nay vote:-

Yeas 9; Nays 0; Absent 0. Attest:- Paula M. Crane, Interim City Clerk

A true copy;

ATTEST:- Paula M. Crane

Interim City Clerk

🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: Feb 9, 2026