We are a welcoming city, said Cantabrigian Tim Toomey, the city councilman leading the effort by the city to declare itself such.

According to the reaffirmation document the city passed, "US immigration policy does not reflect our standards of what is just, humane and moral."

OK, we get it. Cambridge is just a superior kind of place. But why re-pass an existing policy?

"The last time we proclaimed ourselves a sanctuary city," City councilman Tim Toomey explained, "we basked in the glow of our own goodness for years after. But almost no one remembers anymore.

"It was like we were living in Weymouth," he sniffed.