Mejia, a Dominican-born Dorchester resident and Boston’s first Afro-Latina city councilor, filed an order requesting a public hearing on sanctuary schools, citing concerns about racial profiling and federal immigration policies. She introduced the order at Wednesday’s Boston City Council meeting, expanding the order to include other potential “sanctuary spaces.”
Julia Mejia has, like many successful women, often harbored a bruising case of imposter syndrome. Still, the circumstances in which she found herself last week felt especially unreal. She was being sworn in to the Boston City Council in Faneuil Hall — the same historic building where she’d raised her hand to become a naturalized citizen nearly three decades earlier.
Mejia said she hopes that what she brings to her work is a reflection of her identity. “I’m an Afro-Latina, I’m a single mom, I’m an immigrant, and I grew up in poverty,” she said. Mejia said that a lot of people feel disconnected from government, adding that the council should be led by the people it represents — the people that put her in office.
It’s been a whirlwind ride of sudden star power for Mejia, a first-time candidate up against a slew of better-funded rivals, who on election night appeared to have eked out a 10-vote win over Alejandra St. Guillen. When a citywide recount was completed this week, that margin was reduced to just one vote