BOSTON — Seeking a way out of a federal policy that they say mostly deports people without criminal records, activists rallied Wednesday for a bill that would allow police to not enforce immigration detainers.
“I am so sick and tired of getting calls from constituents saying, ‘My neighbor has been taken away. The mother of the family next door is being deported.’ I’m tired of pediatricians calling and saying, ‘The parent of my child-patient is in deportation proceedings, and the child is suffering because of it,'” Rep. Denise Provost, D-Somerville, said during a rally in front of the Statehouse. “None of us should be supporting or in any way underwriting this kind of conduct by our government.”
Last May, over the objections of Gov. Deval Patrick, the federal Department of Homeland Security launched the Secure Communities program in Massachusetts, by which information on suspects that local police submit to the FBI is used to enforce federal immigration law.
Although Obama administration officials have acknowledged that they initially botched the rollout of the program, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said it has been revamped to target immigrants with criminal records. In 2011, Napolitano called the program “the single best tool at focusing our immigration enforcement resources on criminals and egregious immigration law violators.”
Gabriel Camacho, of the American Friends Service Committee, told the News Service DHS documents demonstrate 62 percent of those deported through the Secure Communities have “no criminal records whatsoever.”
Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, who sponsored the legislation in the Senate, estimated nearly 200 people have been deported through the program since last year and 60 percent of those people committed no crimes and 10 percent committed civil violations.
Legislation filed in the House and Senate would free state and local police from federal directives to enforce an immigration detainer, and limit the enforcement of detainers to situations in which the person to be detained is an adult, sentenced to five years imprisonment, who has not been released by a state court. The bill would also require reimbursement for the expenses of complying with a detainer, and would require an opportunity for the presence of a lawyer before state or local law enforcement make a suspect available for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement interview.
“What we’re saying is that the federal government has control over immigration policy. State and local police officers and resources shouldn’t be used to aid and abet that policy, and that’s what this bill would do,” Eldridge told reporters.
While similar bills have been filed in Connecticut and California, Eldridge told reporters that Massachusetts could be the first state in the country to enact such a response to Secure Communities. “This bill is being filed all across the country, but it has not yet been passed in any state, so Massachusetts, if it was the first to pass, would be the leader in the nation,” Eldridge said.
Eldridge’s Senate bill has 13 cosponsors, including Sen. Anthony Petruccelli of East Boston, Sen. Patricia Jehlen of Somerville, Sen. Michael Barrett of Lexington, Sen. Cynthia Creem of Newton and Sen. Sal DiDomenico of Everett. The House bill, filed by Rep. Carl Sciortino of Medford, lists 26 cosponsors including members of Speaker Robert DeLeo’s leadership like Assistant Majority Leader Byron Rushing of Boston, Division Chair Ellen Story of Amherst, Ways and Means Assistant Vice Chair Cheryl Coakley-Rivera of Springfield, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee Co-chair Rep. Liz Malia of Jamaica Plain, and Community Development Committee Co-Chair Rep. Linda Forry of Dorchester.
In the face of fresh criticism of Secure Communities, ICE officials defended the program.
According to information provided by ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein, jurisdictions that ignore detainers “bear the risk of possible public safety risks.” ICE places detainers on “on aliens arrested on criminal charges to ensure that dangerous criminals are not released from prisons/jails and into our communities. Even though some aliens may be arrested on minor criminal charges, they may also have more serious criminal backgrounds which disguise their true danger to society. Historically, some criminal aliens with ICE detainers, who have been mistakenly released to the streets rather than being turned over to ICE custody and placed in deportation proceedings, have subsequently committed more serious crimes.”
Feinstein also reported that the percentage of removals of individuals with misdemeanor crimes as “decreased significantly” since Secure Communities started in 2008. In Massachusetts, ICE’s approach has yielded “significant results” as of Jan. 31, 2012, according to Feinstein, as “85 percent of aliens removed fell into ICE’s stated priority categories and 45 percent were convicted criminal aliens.” He listed priorities as the “identification and removal of those that have broken criminal laws, threats to national security, recent border crossers and repeat violators of immigration law.”
Feinstein added, “ICE continues to prioritize the removal of those individuals who present the most significant threats to public safety as determined by the severity of their crime, their criminal history, and other factors, as well as those who have repeatedly violated immigration laws.”
Outside the Statehouse Wednesday, as speakers from faith, labor and immigration groups gave their vocal support for the legislation, the husband of Irasema Zapata whacked a bass drum with a duct-tape wrapped mallet. Zapata and her husband, who identified himself as both Luis Lima and Marlo Martinez, learned firsthand how an encounter with police can raise the possibility of deportation.
“I have a deportation order, and I don’t want to be separated from my family. That is why I’m here,” Zapata told the crowd, with the help of an interpreter translating from Spanish.
Zapata, a Lawrence resident who spoke briefly to the crowd, told reporters that she, her husband, who are both from Guatemala, and their three young children were pulled over in Salem, N.H., when they went to a McDonald’s there. Martinez produced the criminal complaint that showed he was allegedly driving without a valid license, though he said he had a valid Washington license. With Camacho interpreting, Martinez, who removes carcinogenic asbestos for a living, said he was in detention for three weeks, and a deportation order is processing. Zapata has received a deportation order.
Martinez said he arrived in the United States in 1999 with valid papers, but had overstayed, deciding in 2007 to remain in the country because of the birth of his children, who he said are aware of the situation.
Critics of Secure Communities argue that it has fueled distrust between local police and the immigrant communities they rely on for tips and cooperation. Martinez said he has called local police following two muggings and his interactions with them were fine.
“In the case of a medical emergency, members of my community think twice before calling 911,” said Natalicia Tracy, executive director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center. She said, “People are afraid of the police.”
Rich Rogers, executive secretary and treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council, said his organization supports the legislation as well as federal immigration reform that would create a “path to citizenship.”
“Unscrupulous employers routinely exploit immigrant workers,” Rogers told the crowd.
Supporters said that limiting the role of local police in immigration enforcement would engender cooperation between police and immigrants who may be in the country illegally.
“The Trust Act is about making all the people of Massachusetts safer,” said Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield.
