State Rep. Colleen Garry of Dracut and Sen. Dean Tran of Fitchburg are among a group of officials who support a new ballot initiative aimed at trying to prevent Massachusetts from becoming a “sanctuary state.”
Generally speaking, “sanctuary states” refer to states that limit cooperation with the federal government’s effort to enforce immigration law.
Under the proposal filed with the state Attorney General Maura Healey’s office, local and state law enforcement officers may detain certain people upon receipt of:
•A written request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “requesting detention of such person on the grounds that there is probable cause that such person is a removable alien” and an administrative warrant for arrest or warrant of removal/deportation.
In addition, the proposal states it should be first determined that there are facts indicating that the person to be detained poses a threat to public safety. In no circumstances shall the detention exceed 12 hours unless an appropriate judicial officer makes a probable cause determination under a certain procedure detailed in the petition.
“I think that there is a lot of pressure to become a sanctuary state and I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the commonwealth,” Garry said. “I think that other states have shown that it can be dangerous.”
She added that she’s read about convicted individuals who were not turned over to ICE and went on to commit worse crimes.
“Certainly I don’t like to see them round up people who are working and paying taxes, and who have never committed a crime except to be here illegally. It’s a matter of those who have actually committed violent crimes,” Garry said. “That would allow them to be picked up. It would only hold them for 12 hours. I think it’s important.”
In late June, Garry pasted a press release from ICE on her official Facebook page that generated a flood of more than 100 comments from residents and non-residents alike. The release from the agency claimed that cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement makes for safer communities and detailed individual cases where undocumented immigrants were charged with crimes after ICE detainers on them were not honored.
Sen. Tran declined to speak over the phone this week but his communications director released a statement on his behalf. In the statement, Tran said he has always been “a staunch supporter of our law enforcement officers whether they are local, state, or federal.” Tran said he believes the petition allows local and state police to honor certain ICE detainers for those in custody because of criminal charges.
“Secondly, I wanted to be certain that this petition would be used only in the pursuit of criminals, which it does,” Tran’s statement reads. “This gives police officers the ability to decide if the individual is a threat to public safety and would only apply to those who are suspected of terrorism or pose a danger to national security, convicted of an offense connected to gang activity, convicted of an offense classified as a felony, or convicted of a crime in violation of the laws of the state.”
Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael D. O’Keefe is a proponent of the petition and is listed as the main contact on the Attorney General’s website.
“I think the majority of, at least I think the majority of Massachusetts residents, hopefully, want to see federal and state law enforcement working together,” O’Keefe said. “There is one lesson that 9/11 taught us: it’s that the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing is not a healthy situation. The idea that we’re going to be purposefully not cooperating with our federal partners in law enforcement, to me, is ridiculous.”
O’Keefe said he’s not the only person to have drafted the petition over the course of several months and described it as a concerted effort which he believes will build support as it goes through the process of gathering signatures.
“It’s just a matter of keeping dangerous people off the streets of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” O’Keefe said.
Marion Davis, director of communications for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said in a statement that it is “sad and troubling that some anti-immigrant politicians won’t let this go.”
“Massachusetts is not and never will be a “sanctuary” state, if by “sanctuary” they mean a place where immigration agents can’t do their jobs, or where police don’t equitably enforce the law. But the word is a red herring; what this initiative would actually do is get police, sheriffs and court officials back in the business of detaining immigrants for ICE, which has been unlawful in Massachusetts since the Supreme Judicial Court’s 2017 Lunn v. Commonwealth decision,” Davis wrote Monday in a statement. “Even before Lunn, many police departments refused to detain immigrants for ICE — and others, like the State Police, did so sparingly — because they know that getting entangled in immigration matters hurts community trust in law enforcement, and that makes us all less safe.”
The Attorney General’s office will next review whether this initiative petition and others meet certain constitutional requirements to be filed with the Massachusetts Secretary of State. Certification decisions are expected to be released on Sept. 4, according to the AG’s website.
