Bill Keating says Democrats have few options to push back on Trump

Like most Americans, Bill Keating thinks the United States is headed in the wrong direction. He says President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, rollback of climate policy, and expansion of executive power are evidence of the country backsliding. 

“He’s an authoritarian,” Keating said.

Unlike most Americans, Keating is a member of Congress — he represents southeastern Massachusetts in the House of Representatives. But, as dire as he believes the country’s situation has become, he has few ways to address it. He’s a member of the Democratic minority in a polarized branch of government, where Republicans almost always defer to Trump. 

That’s why Keating’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate blocked a Department of Homeland Security spending bill earlier this month, to force negotiations on immigration enforcement. The move sent the federal government into a partial shutdown. Keating voted no on the bill when it passed the House in January. 

The congressman sat down with The Light last week during a visit to the New Bedford Airport for a closed-door briefing with local officials on plans to revamp the aging terminal. He said he’s supporting the city in its bid for federal aviation grants for the project.

Keating, 73, was first elected to Congress in 2010. He has confirmed in recent media interviews that he is seeking a ninth term this November. 

He said he’s alarmed by Trump’s expansion of executive power. The president has issued unconstitutional executive orders, imposed tariffs for “corrupt reasons,” and undermined Congress’s power of the purse through budget recissions, the congressman said.

The only ways Keating sees to reversing the trend are by litigating the president’s policies in court and through elections. He said he believes this November’s midterms will bring change.

“You’ll see a major correction on the part of the American people, and I think it will result in the House becoming Democrat again,” he said.

Democratic minority shuts down DHS to force immigration negotiations

Trump’s actions on immigration have been “nothing short of disastrous,” Keating said. He spoke at length about how outrageous he believes the situation has become.

“You’re seeing Americans killed in the streets, with no due process, with no justification by ICE officials,” he said.

The ICE crackdown in Minneapolis that led to the deadly shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti “makes no sense” to Keating, a former Norfolk County District Attorney who oversaw police shooting investigations.

Keating said he’s also deeply troubled by reports of people being detained when they show up for immigration appointments.

“People that are here legally are getting the rug pulled out from under them,” he said. 

He said he’s alarmed by the aggressive tactics ICE has used to conduct arrests, pointing to an incident in New Bedford last year, first reported by The Light, when agents smashed a car window to detain a man with no criminal record in Massachusetts. (A judge later ordered his release.)

Keating said Homeland Security and ICE refused to answer his office’s questions about the arrest.

“The arrogance and the entitlement of that agency is extraordinary,” he said.

A partial federal government shutdown is underway because Democrats blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes agencies that conduct immigration enforcement. 

Democrats want reforms for ICE, including body cameras, a ban on agents wearing masks, and requirements that agents get a judge’s approval before entering private homes — reforms Keating described as “common sense.” Causing a government shutdown, he said, is the only way the Democratic minority can pressure Republicans to pass those changes.

“We don’t have a lot of options, and we can’t do nothing,” he said.

A broken asylum process has driven illegal immigration, Keating said. People who surrender to authorities at the border to claim asylum may have to wait seven years or more for a hearing, he said, so some immigrants turned to cartels to be smuggled across the border. He said he supported legislation to cut the asylum process to 90 days.

Keating said the country should allow for more immigration and open up pathways to legal residency for immigrants already here, which he believes can be done while maintaining a secure border. He said he thinks most Americans are with him on that.

“They want a secure border, but they want orderly immigration,” he said. “And they certainly don’t want what they’re seeing now, where American citizens are being detained and stopped and profiled, where people are being killed on the street.”

Keating said the inability to pass immigration reforms is one of the “great failings” of Congress and the president. He blamed both branches for perpetuating polarized politics instead of coming together to negotiate.

Stance on cost-of-living challenges

Nationwide, housing and electricity costs are rising faster than inflation, driving voters’ concerns about the cost of living. In his interview with The Light, Keating mainly deferred to state and local authorities on policies to address high utility bills and housing costs, though he pointed to steps Congress had previously taken to help bring costs down.

On skyrocketing utility bills, Keating acknowledged ratepayers’ pain, but he didn’t lay out specific actions he was taking to address the problem. 

He began by summarizing recent developments that he said have impacted the state’s “overall plan” for electricity supply, including the shutdown of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in 2019 and recent interruptions to offshore wind projects imposed by Trump. 

“That plan included wind power, not as a luxury, not as something that was environmentally beneficial, but as a real component to fill our demand,” he said.

Keating said he was also concerned about data centers across the country driving up electricity demand to support artificial intelligence. 

Pressed on what he was doing about the cost of natural gas, Keating said rate setting is generally done by states, so it’s hard to address from the federal level. He praised Gov. Maura Healey for doing a “good job” of pressuring utilities to mitigate costs.

Keating said the American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act passed during President Joe Biden’s administration were “important” because they included money to help people reduce their energy usage. 

Keating is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, which describes itself as a “center-left” group of “115 pragmatic House Democrats who work across the aisle and across the Capitol to advance innovative, inclusive, and forward-looking policies.”

“We have put a special emphasis on the cost of energy,” Keating said of the coalition. “It’s a huge issue and I think you’re going to see it nationally as a huge issue.”

Another drag on household budgets in Massachusetts is housing costs, which Keating said are “beyond belief” and causing people to leave the state.

“The good news is, I think with some federal impetus and some [tax] credits, I think we can move back on this issue, because we have to,” he said.

He said housing policy is generally done at the local level, but the federal government can provide money for states to distribute. He pointed to federal Community Development Block Grants, which provide money for local governments to spend on housing and other projects. The city expects to receive $3.4 million in federal grants during the latest round of funding. The grants have already helped create and fix up dozens of housing units in the city.

Asked what idea he wished more Democrats supported, Keating said he wished more lawmakers on both sides of the aisle would help to expand nationwide access to preschool and kindergarten.

This would have an “enormous impact” he said. Many families with young children are forced to keep one parent at home, not earning money in the workforce, because the cost of daycare would be as much as or more than what that parent could earn.

Expanding early education would also help children reach important benchmarks to avoid falling behind later on. Keating pointed to estimates that every dollar invested in early education yields $9 in economic returns.

Support for Trump grows on the South Coast

Keating’s district maintains a Democratic majority — the congressman won with 56% of the vote in the last election, and the Cook Political Report considers it a “solid” Democratic district. But support for Donald Trump grew in many towns in the district between the last two presidential elections — particularly in Bristol County, where 45% of voters cast ballots for Trump in 2024.

Keating said he doesn’t fully understand the political shift, but he thinks social media may play a role. He claimed 60% of Americans get their news exclusively through social platforms, where they often find themselves in ideological echo chambers. (After the interview, Keating’s office said the congressman heard the statistic from a speaker at a Democratic caucus meeting last year. Pew Research Center has found that 53% of Americans get news from social media “sometimes” or “often,” but it has also found that 64% get news from TV and 44% from radio.)

“We have to break through somehow, and maybe make the new village square social media,” Keating said.

Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org

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