James Keane, a mail clerk, is a common councilor in Everett, a working class town with two neighbors, Cambridge and Chelsea, that claim sanctuary status. While the sanctuary city designation is mostly symbolic it suggests local officials do not favor aggressive enforcement of immigration laws.

"If they feel that strongly that the laws shouldn't be enforced, then they shouldn't have the money that comes with it to enforce these laws," Keane told The Boston Globe. "It's that simple."

The Everett council has passed a resolution that calls on the federal government to act against sanctuary cities. A number of Republican presidential candidates, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, back similar plans.

Cambridge is a diverse city known as the home of Harvard and MIT, while Chelsea is now a majority Hispanic community. Everett, by contrast, has a growing immigrant population, now about 22 percent, but remains mostly white.