Worried Natick residents blasted the Select Board for passing a sanctuary-like policy just days after the arrest of a local Iranian national in connection with a fatal drone strike that killed three U.S. military members.

Board Chairwoman Kathryn Coughlin, who said a letter sent to them during the weeks-long debate “wished our deaths,” warned residents she’d call the police if she had to. “No clapping,” she added at one point. But she let anyone who had yet to talk take the microphone.

The board then voted 5-0 Wednesday night to pass an amended draft policy on Immigration Documentation.

Board members stressed this isn’t a true Sanctuary City directive, “like Somerville and Cambridge,” but one that “protects” town employees and will not interfere with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents seeking an illegal immigrant wanted for deportation.

But not everyone saw it that way.

“We’re worried about illegal people coming here. The FBI is up on Woodland Street and we can’t get up there,” one woman given 3 minutes to talk said. “Why do it now with a new administration coming in?”

One of the Iranian suspects in the federal drone bombing case was arrested this week at his home on Woodland Street in Natick. Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, who prosecutors revealed works at a Massachusetts-based semiconductor company, is a dual U.S.-Iranian national.

The board added he was living in Natick legally.

The other suspect was Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, who was arrested Monday in Italy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston said.

But it was the FBI in Natick that rattled many who came to the board hearing.

“What the hell are you thinking here? I’m opposed to public virtue signaling,” said another resident. “Natick is again the laughingstock of the nation.”

The debate also included residents, many reluctant to give their addresses, who said “fearmongering” was changing the climate of the Home of Champions, as it’s known. Another woman, who said she was a homeowner and an immigrant lawfully here in the U.S., said she worried about how she’d be treated now.

“We are tearing us all apart over language,” one man said, adding that Congress is to blame for no united immigration policy for the nation.

The board said the Natick Police have adopted most of the draft policy and some adjustments were incorporated.

Boston, Somerville, Northampton, Amherst Cambridge, Concord, Lawrence and Newton are the state’s eight sanctuary cities. Natick now has a policy board members say can be adjusted anytime.

Under Natick’s draft policy, town employees would be barred from inquiring about or collecting information regarding citizenship or immigration status unless required by federal or state law.

Detaining a person based on the belief he or she is not in the U.S. legally or that the individual committed an immigration violation would violate the policy.