New MA bill would ban police from asking about immigration status

The bill would prohibit police from questioning people on their immigration status.
The bill would also prohibit 287(g) agreements, which deputize local police to act as immigration agents.
MA lawmakers say the bill would make communities safer.

When Sen. Liz Miranda, D-Boston, was a student at Wellesley College, her father and brother were deported.

“It took me 18 years before I saw them again,” said the Cape Verdean American state senator. “I know firsthand the devastation that occurs when immigration enforcement becomes entangled with systems that are actually meant to support and protect our families.”

She was testifying in support of the Safe Communities Act, a bill that would, among other things, prohibit police from asking about immigration status, during a Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security hearing on Nov. 25.

The bill comes as the Trump administration has cracked down on immigration enforcement around the country and in Massachusetts, where they have launched immigration operations that have led to the arrest of thousands of undocumented immigrants in the state, the vast majority of them not convicted criminals.

“I don’t think I have tell anyone here in this auditorium about the impact on immigrant communities in each of the cities and towns we represent as a result of the deportation agenda of the Trump Vance administration,” said Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, the lead sponsor of the Senate bill (S.1681), adding that immigrant families who have been detained or whose family members have been sent to an ICE facility in another state contact him every couple days.

“What we know is that this is not only a concern for immigrant communities, municipal officials, prosecutors, sheriffs, law enforcement, but it’s also something that our local police do not want to be involved in, and it is actually hurting the trust between law enforcement and our immigrant communities to focus on public safety,” he continued.

What is the Safe Communities Act?

The Safe Communities Act is a pair of House and Senate bills that would ensure that state law enforcement is not involved with federal immigration enforcement in several areas.

The bill has four main prongs:

Prohibits police and court officials from questioning people on their immigration status
Requires police, court and correctional personnel to obtain written consent before any ICE interview of someone in their custody and ensure that the immigrant knows their rights to decline interviews or have an attorney present
Prohibits police and correctional facilities from informing ICE if someone in their custody is undocumented, unless they have a criminal conviction
Prohibits 287(g) agreements, which deputize local police to act as immigration agents

Reps. Manny Cruz, D-Salem, and Rep. Priscila Sousa, D-Framingham, are the sponsors behind the House bill (H.2580).

The lawmakers said the bill would not interfere with criminal investigations, only civil immigration enforcement.

“We recognize that we cannot stop ICE agents from enforcing immigration law,” Eldridge said, adding that they want to make sure that state taxpayer resources and local law enforcement are not involved with efforts that lead to “the detention and the breaking apart of many immigrant families.”

Safety and immigration enforcement

The Trump administration has threatened to sue and withhold federal funds from states and cities it says employs “sanctuary” policies, which restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, saying that these policies put Americans at risk.

However, lawmakers and other advocates for the Safe Communities Act argued that it would make communities safer. Miranda said that because of heightened ICE activity, families have been afraid to seek services for their children and abuse victims have been afraid to get help.

“Our state is safer, healthier, more prosperous when every resident feels secure that they can report the crime, they can cooperate with investigations, they can seek health care, they can attend school and they can go to work,” Miranda said. “When residents don’t fear that a basic interaction with local authorities could trigger immigration consequences, the entire community actually benefits.”