Union Official Warns ‘It Can Get Worse Very Quickly’
By Ella Adams
In 17-degree weather Thursday morning protesters exited the State House, chanting and calling for lawmakers and Gov. Maura Healey to take “concrete and immediate action” to protect immigrants from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They got a quick answer Thursday afternoon with Healey filing legislation and signing an executive order.
Her bill seeks to “keep ICE out of courthouses, schools, child care programs, hospitals and churches,” ban another state from deploying their National Guard into Massachusetts without the governor’s permission, and allow parents to pre-arrange guardianship for their children in case they are deported. The executive order limits new 287(g) agreements between local law enforcement and ICE, and bans the use of state property as an immigration enforcement operations base.
What began as an event inside the State House flooded out to the General Hooker entrance and then to the front steps of the building after a smoke alarm went off and caused an evacuation just before 11 a.m.
“Today Minnesota, tomorrow Massachusetts. Today Maine, tomorrow Massachusetts,” SEIU Local 509 Political and Legislative Director Dan Hoffer said before advocates exited the building. “This is coming for us. It’s already here, and it can get worse very quickly.”
Immigrant advocates for months have called on lawmakers to pass policies they say would protect immigrant communities in Massachusetts from federal agents who are carrying out President Trump’s deportation push.
The Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, chaired by Haverhill Rep. Andy X. Vargas, said Wednesday that it filed a bill dubbed the PROTECT Act, which would among other policies ban agreements allowing local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration officers’ responsibilities.
Protests across the country, particularly in Minnesota, reflect the backlash against violent ICE action. A federal agent shot and killed a civilian named Renee Good on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis, and on Jan. 24 in the same city an agent shot and killed a man named Alex Pretti.
Enhanced ICE operations in Maine ceased on Thursday, according to The Hill.
Carrying green and orange cards featuring handwritten notes, protesters planned to visit lawmakers and Healey’s office to demand action be taken to protect immigrant communities. The cards featured a statement—“We are in a time of crisis. Act now to curb ICE’s abuses!” — and requested the state ban 287(g) agreements in Massachusetts and “ensure the MA law enforcement don’t get entangled with ICE.”
“I can tell you firsthand, workers are terrified. University educators that we represent are scared to leave their campuses lest they get abducted by masked men like Rümeysa Öztürk was last year. Our family child care providers bristle at every knock at their door worried that ICE is coming for them or their children,” Hoffer said. “My direct care providers that provide critical care for those with disabilities to live independently in the community look over their shoulder every day, wondering if that SUV is ICE or just another car.”
Activists across the country are calling for a “national shutdown” on Jan. 30, encouraging people to not go to work or school and not shop as a way to call on the government to stop funding ICE.