This week, the Massachusetts legislature took aim against federal attacks on our immigrant communities.
The House passed an annual budget that included $5M to fund legal representation for low-income immigrants facing deportation proceedings – a first in Massachusetts! This critical House funding initiative lays the groundwork for a statewide immigrant legal defense program proposed in the Immigrant Legal Defense Act, a MIRA priority bill now before the state legislature. There is no right to appointed counsel in immigration court, leaving those who cannot afford an attorney to navigate these complex proceedings alone.
The House also summarily defeated two proposed budget amendments that would allow police and courts to voluntarily execute the warrantless detention and transfer of immigrants to ICE upon request, which is currently prohibited by Massachusetts law. House Public Safety Chairman Daniel Cahill of Lynn led the charge during House debates, together with Representative Priscila Sousa of Framingham, to overwhelming applause in the House chamber.
Representative Dan Cahill gave the amendment proponents colleagues a brief lesson in Massachusetts constitutional law, noting that our state laws require that once a person’s criminal case is concluded, that person is at liberty. “What the government wants us to do is expend resources to hold people beyond that time. That’s a constitutional problem.” Article 14 of the Massachusetts Constitution “explicitly states that the government is not to seize any person without a warrant. And whether you like it or not, civil detainers are not warrants.”
Representative Priscila Sousa shared her family’s experience as undocumented immigrants from Brazil before they attained citizenship, and the impact that threats of collaboration with ICE have had on their lives. “We would be less trusting of law enforcement and authorities in general, we hid at home more, we stopped interacting and investing in our community and we stopped planning for the future,” she said. “I wish there were a metric or statistic I could share that would express the horror and fear that this would cause to so many contributing members of our community. The horror and fear that my family and I felt.”
We are grateful to House leadership and to all our House allies for their united and decisive work to defeat efforts to enlist MA in the federal government’s brutal roundup of immigrant state residents.
Also this week, Senate President Spilka rallied state senators in a spirited, hours-long condemnation of federal attacks on immigrants during an informal session on Monday. Senator after senator rose to condemn federal disregard for due process and the rule of law, and the abduction of state residents from our streets by armed ICE agents. Senators Sal Didomenico and Brendan Crighton decried the terror inflicted by ICE on immigrant communities in Everett, Chelsea and Lynn, particularly on children. “Kids are afraid to go to school,” DiDomenico said. “Kids are getting upset when their parents don’t come home from work on time.” He described local businesses empty of customers, and videotaping and threats against immigrant advocates by Trump supporters. While the Senate President did not present specifics, she said that the Senate’s Response 2025 program launched last month is actively considering policy responses to federal actions.
You can watch Senator DiDomenico give his speech here.