It’s official! On Wednesday, MIRA Coalition members, state legislators, and allied organizations and immigrant community members rallied on the State House steps for a press conference launching the Protecting Our Immigrant Communities campaign, and pressed for state action on proposed legislation that would defend immigrant communities from federal overreach.
Headlined by lead sponsors of the Safe Communities Act and the Immigrant Legal Defense Act, speaker after speaker called on the Massachusetts legislature to pass legislation that would build community trust in local law enforcement and ensure that immigrants facing deportation have access to legal representation in immigration court.
“Our communities are facing unprecedented challenges and we must establish a united front to provide some of our most vulnerable residents with the protections and tools they need to face the threat of detention and deportation,” said Senator Adam Gomez, lead sponsor of the Immigrant Legal Defense Act. He noted that in Massachusetts, over half of immigrants with pending cases in immigration court do not have a lawyer.
Safe Communities Act sponsors spoke of the importance of ensuring that state and local law enforcement stick to their public safety roles. Lead Senate sponsor Jamie Eldridge said that the bill aims “to set a clear bright line between the role of federal immigration officials and our state and local law enforcement and court personnel, educating immigrant without legal status about their rights, and ensuring that law enforcement in each of our communities continues to have the trust of all residents, keeping everyone safe.” House co-filer Rep. Priscila Sousa added, “What we seek to do is simply codify what so many police and our law enforcement partners already do every day.”
But the lack of a clear, statewide policy for police puts immigrants at risk of exploitation and abuse, said Dawn Sauma, co-executive director of the Asian American Task Force against Domestic Violence. She said that passage of the Safe Communities Act was critical for the safety of immigrant survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking. “When survivors come to us they are terrified. Not just of their abusers but of the very systems that are supposed to protect them.” She said that this fear keeps survivors from reporting abuse, because they are “more afraid of law enforcement and deportation than of the violence they’ve been enduring.”
Representative Manny Cruz of Salem dismissed the notion that the federal government could compel states to help carry out its deportation agenda. “The 10th Amendment [of the U.S. Constitution] is clear. The powers of the federal government are clearly delineated, and all the powers that they do not have fall to the states. . . . what we are affirming is the Constitution, that says that our state and local resources are up to us to decide what to use them for.”
Senator Miranda, a first generation Cape Verdean immigrant who represents Boston’s 2nd Suffolk district, agreed. “As our attorney general has stated very clearly, state and local law enforcement cannot be commandeered for federal immigration enforcement, despite threats made by our federal government.”
Several speakers challenged the Trump administration’s claim that it is targeting people who have committed crimes. Senator Eldridge described a recent arrest in his district of a Brazilian constituent with no criminal record who was arrested by ICE agents.
Senator Miranda agreed. “We lived through this already, for four years. And if anyone tells you that they’re only focused on violent criminals, they are lying.”
Said Damaris Velasquez, of Agencia ALPHA, “After 35 years of living in this country, this is what I hear constantly. I stand in front of you here as a formerly undocumented woman, a legal representative certified by the Justice Department, and guess what? I am not a criminal.”
Read more about the 2 main legislative priorities in the campaign, the Safe Communities Act and the Immigrant Legal Defense Act.
Watch the livestream recording of the event: