Hi ,
I hope you and your family and friends are taking care. It has been a deeply disturbing, confusing, and trying time. Everyday we are inundated with consequential and terrifying executive orders, appointment nominations, and blatant power grabs by billionaire oligarchs and nepobabies. Many aspects of our lives are acutely under threat and this ongoing harm cuts far deeper for our immigrant neighbors and anyone living on the margin. I’m deeply saddened and disgusted that just this week, ICE detained 3 individuals in Union Square.
Now more than ever, state and local governments have a critical role in this political context. I hope to outline broadly what the Massachusetts State House can do to meet the moment and provide some deeper dives into the most important bills and action we can take as your state government. In addition, you may be wondering what you can do to support these causes. I’ve shared some next steps so that we can build power to make meaningful change for ourselves, our neighbors, and our communities.
Yesterday, Mayor Michelle Wu fiercely and firmly defended Boston’s sanctuary city status in the lion’s den of political theater. We are all proud that Somerville has also been a sanctuary city since 1987. Mayor Wu gave voice to all sanctuary cities and told our story: that we are who we are because of immigrants, that Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is lazy and the policies are baseless with respect to true public safety. She also poignantly stated that if the federal government truly cared about healthy and safe communities, they would invest in, rather than cut, health care, education, housing, and social services.
As a daughter of immigrants myself, it was a moving hearing to witness. I commend Mayor Wu for standing up to bullies on our communities’ behalf and holding firm that we all belong here.
This hearing hit on the two main interfaces between the federal government and state / local government, which is: the criminal legal system (policing, courts, prisons, immigration enforcement) and money from your taxes. These two axes are also a helpful framework to understand how the MA State House or our municipal governments can change our state laws and policies.
With respect to the criminal legal system, the federal government manages their agencies, including ICE, FBI, and federal courts and prisons, and the state and local governments have autonomy over their respective institutions. What makes Somerville and Boston sanctuary cities are the limitations we place on our institutions from being deputized by, coordinating with, or sharing information with federal law enforcement such as ICE. In other words, the state or local government cannot overrule what ICE does in our communities, but we can change our laws and policies so that law enforcement does not ask about immigration status, or that our law enforcement does not share data with federal law enforcement.
This is why I am supporting the Dignity Not Deportations Act filed by our fellow Somervillen Rep. Christine Barber, and Rep. Rogers and Sen. Gomez, which helps guard us against ICE’s abuse by prohibiting Massachusetts entities, including sheriffs, from voluntarily renting cells in jails/prisons to ICE and from donating time and resources to ICE. ICE deputizes local officials through contracts called 287(g) agreements. This bill would end existing 287(g) agreements and prohibit state agencies and sheriffs from signing new ones.
This is so important because today, hundreds of immigrants are held at the Plymouth County Jail despite longstanding opposition. And recently the sheriff renewed their contract with ICE. Under the first Trump administration, former Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz attempted to visit the Bristol County Jail, whose sheriff at the time was a vocal Trump supporter and they denied her entry. In essence, the sheriff broke the law and denied oversight and accountability of the facility by a legislator as defined by our laws. One can only imagine the horrible conditions of confinement in jails or prisons that refuse to be held accountable.
I am also in support of the Safe Communities Act, which in addition to prohibiting 287(g) agreements, prohibits the practice of questioning by court and police officials about immigration status. It also puts in place safe guards on what courts, police and correction officials can communicate with ICE and on protecting the constitutional rights of immigrants.
Finally, another crucial aspect of the criminal legal system is ensuring individuals have legal aid. My office has assisted individuals at imminent risk of deportation in obtaining legal aid and we have successfully prevented individuals from being deported thanks to pro-bono legal representation. For some individuals, we’ve had to contact over 30 legal clinics before finding legal representation. Oftentimes, our constituent was denied due to lack of capacity, funds, or internal policies. This is why I’m also in support of the Immigrant Legal Defense Act, which would create a program to provide no-cost immigration legal defense to immigrants in Massachusetts who are at imminent risk of deportation.
I realize I’m running the risk of being too long winded so I will save for a future newsletter the second thread on what we can and must do at the state and local level in terms of our money from taxes. This is especially pertinent with looming threats by Republicans to cut Medicaid and Trump’s orders to dissolve the Department of Education.
I’ll leave you all with some resources and action steps on what you can do to help get these bills passed. No legislator can pass bills alone and we all need your help. I know many of you already call or email your elected officials (and yours truly), so you may be wondering what else you can be doing in this critical moment.
Boston DSA hosts an Organizer Training Series that teaches the skills needed to build up strategic campaigns. As a former organizer and coalition builder myself, I’ve attended many workshops, bootcamps, and trainings on organizing across the country, and I can vouch that this is one of the best training series easily available in the Boston area. I encourage you to sign up!
