Op Ed: Our State Legislators Must Protect Our Human Rights by Sponsoring the Safe Communities Act

ICE’s (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) actions are making our community less safe: from the murders of Minnesota’s Renee Good and Alex Pretti, to the detainment of Milford teen Marcelo Gomes da Silva. The Burlington ICE facility that held Gomes da Silva is a mere twenty-five miles from Westwood.

ICE was founded in 2003 as part of the Homeland Security Act. Paradoxically, the above actions make my homes of Massachusetts and America less secure. The right to a trial and freedom from arbitrary arrest are human rights named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Here in Massachusetts, resistance and dissent are baked into our pedigree: we are the home of the Boston Tea Party and the “shot heard ‘round the world” in Concord. This historic resistance has not met this moment. States like California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington have all passed legislation to prevent state and local law enforcement from collaborating with ICE. ICE is pressuring local police departments to sign up for its 287(g) program, which turns street-level officers into ICE agents. Massachusetts is the only state with a Democratic governor and Democratic legislature to still have a statewide 287(g) agreement with ICE.

Governor Healey and Beacon Hill legislators are finally getting the memo that the public wants to see action. But it matters that we pass legislation that meets this unprecedented moment.

Massachusetts law enforcement must never assist ICE in making civil immigration arrests (taking people into custody when no crime has been committed) or ask members of the public about their immigration status.

Neither Westwood’s State Representative Paul McMurtry nor its State Senator Mike Rush have sponsored the Safe Communities Act (H2580/S1681). The Safe Communities Act limits local and state police collaboration with federal immigration agents, bars law enforcement and court personnel from inquiring about immigration status, protects access to justice in our courts, and ensures due process protections. Immigrant workers, survivors of domestic and sexual assault, and tenants must feel safe reporting crimes, abuse, or exploitation without fear of deportation. I urge my neighbors to contact Rep McMurtry and Sen Rush about this Act.