In early April, Revere Councilor-at-Large George Rotondo put forward a motion to say no to the proposal calling for Massachusetts to become a so-called "sanctuary state."

Rotondo is a Democrat but voted for President Trump, and he says he takes to heart the president's threat to cut funding to cities that don't cooperate with immigration enforcement.

"Put up a wall, have more ICE agents, and everybody that's here that's not a criminal, they should get a visa and stay here," he told the council.

"But turning this state into a sanctuary state? No thank you."

Debate Over Federal Funding

Then, on May 1, two dozen protesters gathered in front of Revere City Hall before another council meeting. They formed a circle to introduce themselves and explain why they came. Councilor Rotondo joined without a flinch.

"I wrote that motion to ask not to vote for sanctuary state," Rotondo told them, "because I don't want people to lose funding at the federal level, for health care, education or public safety."

The crowd listened to Rotondo as they had listened to each person attending the rally. Then, organizer Dimple Rana, of the Revere Immigrant Solidarity Network, interrupted. She and her fellow protesters say Rotondo's concerns about federal funding being in jeopardy are baseless.

Rana says protesters came out because immigrants should be present in a conversation about immigrants.

"Who on the city council is representing the immigrant community?" Rana told WBUR. "I don't know. This needs to be presented to the community versus having blanket statements saying you're not welcome here — the feeling of not being welcome here."

Revere City Councilor-at-Large George Rotondo (Simón Rios/WBUR)

The so-called Safe Communities Act is the "sanctuary state" bill and would restrain cooperation between law enforcement in Massachusetts and federal immigration authorities.

Specifically, it would prohibit agencies from using resources for immigration enforcement, prevent them from sharing records for the purpose of a religious or racial database, and ban police from asking about a person's immigration status unless required by law.

The definition of a "sanctuary city" is amorphous, but a number of cities have provisions in place to regulate cooperation between local cops and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They tend to be places like Newton, Boston, Cambridge and Somerville, or more blue-collar cities with large immigrant populations, including Chelsea, where 45 percent of the population is foreign-born, and Lawrence, where 37 percent of residents are immigrants.

In both Lawrence and Chelsea, Latinos enjoy majorities on the city councils, which is perhaps what distinguishes Revere.

Revere's immigrant population has swelled to nearly twice what it was in 2000 — from about 10,000 to 19,000, according to the U.S. Census. Nowadays Revere has about 14,000 Latinos, but not one of them sits on the city council.

"We are a proud community, but we are not the wealthiest community in the world," said Rotondo, who works as a nurse at a hospital in Boston. "And I'm not going to risk my people's livelihood ... because someone wants to make a statement. You want to make a statement? Go down to Revere Beach, stand up on the wall and make a statement."