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Six months ago, Brenda Romero’s husband called her from a courthouse, crying tears of joy. He had just been approved for political asylum. The celebration didn’t last long, however. As Romero’s husband walked out of the courthouse, he was detained by immigration agents.
“In a matter of minutes, our joy turned into trauma,” Romero, who has lived in Chelsea for 12 years, said in Spanish at a Statehouse hearing Wednesday. She and the translator were both in tears.
The arrest of Romero’s husband brings up another dilemma for her. Romero said her daughter was the victim of a “horrific crime” that’s now the subject of a pending court case.
“I am agonizing over whether to continue pursuing justice … not because I do not want justice, but because I am afraid to walk into a courthouse,” Romero said. “Because the last time that my family walked out of a courthouse with hope, my husband was taken away.”
Romero’s story is not unique. Last year, 614 people were arrested by federal agents in courthouses across the state, according to Black and Latino Legislative Caucus Chair Andy Vargas, D-Haverhill.
Romero, along with dozens of other immigrants, advocates, law enforcement officers, sheriffs and lawmakers, testified during Wednesday’s public forum, held by the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security on a bill called the PROTECT Act. The room was overflowing with people, prompting employees to remove the wall between two hearing rooms to create more seating.
The bill, which members of the Legislature’s Black and Latino Caucus filed in January, aims to strengthen protections for immigrant communities across the state. It focuses on courthouse protection, due process rights, detention facility conditions and law enforcement regulations.
Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, said in an interview with The Light that ICE has arrested several people at New Bedford District Court.
In one case, ICE detained Candelaria Natalia Tzunux Pu of New Bedford after a hearing in New Bedford District Court in December. She spent a week at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in Burlington and was released after a medical emergency.
Courthouse protections
The bill aims to prevent situations like Romero’s by protecting immigrants in and around courthouses. It states that the fear of civil immigration enforcement at courthouses “undermines access to justice.”
The PROTECT Act would ban the state’s court officers and trial court employees from arresting, detaining, or holding someone because of a civil immigration matter; allowing immigration agents into nonpublic courthouse areas without a warrant; or initiating contact with immigration agents to help carry out a civil arrest. The Executive Office of the Trial Court would be required to file a quarterly public report on immigration enforcement activity on courthouse grounds.
The bill also seeks to prohibit civil immigration arrests in or around courthouses, including while someone is traveling directly to or from court, unless there is a judicial warrant or court order signed by a judge. It’s one of several bills in state legislatures across the country that seek to restrict the actions of federal law enforcement.
Rep. Christopher Markey, D-Dartmouth, said he thinks some parts of the bill are “nearly impossible to enforce.” This includes protecting immigrants traveling to and from courthouses from arrest, which “puts local law enforcement in conflict with ICE,” he said. He also questioned how immigration enforcement agents would know an individual is going to or from court.
However, Markey said some protections are necessary to ensure immigrants’ rights and safety.
“I think the expectation of the average citizen is that we would be aggressively going after the most violent individuals who are in jails or out of jails, who are predators,” Markey said. “But I don’t think [the expectation is] going into schools or going into churches, where people — but for their legal status in the United States — have not committed a crime. And I think that most people agree with due process and the need to make sure that rights are protected, people are safe, and families know where others are.”
The PROTECT Act doesn’t include protections for schools or places of worship, but a bill proposed by Gov. Maura Healey does.
Rep. Christopher Hendricks, D-New Bedford, said he “wholeheartedly” supports the PROTECT Act.
“I think the record that ICE has of trampling on people’s rights, trampling on the Constitution, violating people’s Second, Fourth, Sixth and Fifth Amendment rights routinely — I think we should have a very, very strong response to this,” Hendricks said.
He also suggested additions to the bill, noting that the state should provide guidance on what to do if the “street is flooded with ICE agents and they don’t have warrants, and they kick in people’s doors.”
Hendricks added that the bill should protect local and state police if they intervene when immigration agents are acting “unlawful[ly].” He emphasized the difference between local law enforcement and ICE, which he called “a rogue group operating without warrants.”
Rep. Steven Ouellette, D-Westport, and Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, declined to comment on the bill. Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Rep. Mark Sylvia, D-Fairhaven, did not grant an interview.
Due process and detention facility conditions
The PROTECT Act aims to reform due process and conditions in immigration detention facilities.
The Plymouth County Correctional Facility is the only state facility in Massachusetts holding detainees on behalf of ICE. At the public forum, Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald reported that there are 474 men in ICE custody in his facility. He added that they typically stay around 20 days, and 243 of them list an address in Massachusetts as their primary residence.
Under the bill, immigration detainees in state facilities would receive written notice of their rights and instructions for contacting an attorney in their primary language. They would have access to confidential, unmonitored phone calls with their attorney and one phone call to whomever they choose within two hours of intake.
The bill would also increase transparency about detainees’ locations. It would require detention facilities to maintain an electronic locator system, provide a telephone hotline for callers to obtain the location of and contact information for the detainees, and inform designated contacts within six hours of transferring the person to or from the facility.
The bill requires facilities to provide translated intake materials and interpretation for medical, mental health, disciplinary, legal and grievance interactions. It would require facilities to provide transportation to, or remote access for, mandatory government appointments.
Law enforcement regulations
The bill would create new limits to local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration agents.
Sheriff’s offices across the state are cooperating with ICE, even without formal contracts or partnerships, The Light reported in October. Local jails have shared a mix of information with federal immigration agents — booking logs, court dates, and release times.
The bill would ban much of this cooperation, prohibiting sheriffs and other Massachusetts law enforcement from providing federal immigration agents advance notice of a person’s release date, time or location. (Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux restricted information-sharing with ICE in November.)
The bill would also prohibit law enforcement agents from asking about someone’s immigration status unless it’s required by law, they have a judicial warrant or court order, or it’s necessary to prove a state crime.
The legislation would also ban future 287(g) agreements, which allow local law enforcement to perform the duties of federal immigration officers. It includes an exception that allows agencies to collaborate with federal enforcement agents on serious criminal cases. Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley told lawmakers at the hearing that this exception “doesn’t make any sense.”
Under the PROTECT Act, police officers seeking certification or recertification in Massachusetts would have to disclose whether they worked for ICE or U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “for purposes of assessing training needs and ensuring compliance with the commonwealth’s standards for de-escalation and bias-free policing.”
The bill would also make it easier for immigrant victims of serious crimes who cooperate with law enforcement to obtain documents to apply for protections through a federal visa program.
Local advocates support bill
Lisa Maya Knauer, co-founder of the New Bedford-based Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, said it is important for immigrant communities to know that people in office represent them, even if they cannot vote. Still, she questioned the bill’s impact, saying that immigration enforcement agencies don’t follow the law.
Knauer said that courthouses are among ICE officers’ “favorite locations.” Because of this, she said the bill is “extremely important.”
“We see people are fearful about going to court,” Knauer said. “If they don’t keep their court date, then they get cited and are eligible for deportation. If they do keep their court date, they might be picked up by ICE.”
Knauer said she spoke on her own behalf, not on behalf of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores.
The CEDC’s Williams also stressed the importance of courthouse protections.
“ICE is weaponizing public institutions like courthouses to undermine trust and to erode our community’s access to justice,” she said. “We should all be very worried about this.”
Jamie Perkins is a graduate student in journalism at Boston University, covering state government for The Light as part of the Boston University Statehouse Program. Email them at jperkins@newbedfordlight.org.
It’s time for change in Massachusetts, our State politicians are not listening, they’re putting band aids on energy issues, allocating more money and services for illegals, while issues facing Seniors, Veterans, Families, Children, and Hard Working Residents are being ignored. It’s time for change our state needs new political leadership.
Why why do you make illegal immigration of such a factor in making people think that we’re against immigrants if you come here illegally you have to face the facts that you have to go back
Your welcome to your opinion, but as long as Seniors, Veterans, Families, Children, and Hard Working Residents continue to struggle and this administration continues to spend over $1 Billion a year of tax payer dollars on Illegals (it’s a major factor) and I’ll continue to point this out. 100% our state and city political leadership are failing us.
Very well said but you have a ton of bleeding hearts that wanna allow these illegals to stay here. Putting a strain on our resources that we pay for with our hard earned taxes
Thank you
Unrealistic provisions, contained within this proposed legislation, evidence the delusional status of its sponsors and writers.
It is time for MA legislative bodies to address the concerns and difficulties of legal residents, with the zeal they accord to illegal residents.
If only the Massachusetts Legislature would honor the will of the voting public (72%) and allow the MA State Auditor to audit their finances and report the results to the public, then they would have fulfilled one of their functions.
What is happening to our country, the one where we fought for freedom from oppression and for the inherent rights of being able to enjoy the fruit of your labor in peace under God? We have lost our way by electing people who have no appropriate work experience and are a product of our decimated school system who seek power from laws against our basic freedoms and wealth from the taxes they impose on our labor and rewards. Wake up America, study the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers that enabled it! While you are at it study to improve your ability to work at a job that provides for the living you desire for your family. Then vote these moronic parasites out of office! Support what authority is left to regain our country from the invaders they brought in! You do not want to change our country to resemble the horrible mess they created. Look at this Protect act for what it is….an attack on your country’s hard fought rights of Liberty to live with and under the peace and prosperity of your labor and birthright. Our founded system our forefathers fought and created is at work to free you from these invaders. Recognize the truth and support it or else, this country will continue to devolve into another socialist hellhole.
We need more people like yourself
If an “illegal” immigrant did not follow the rules and regulations to get here, how can you conclude that they will not take the same liberties in the future? Extending protections to “legal” immigrants are no problem! They follow the rules!
An article that explains the many types of legal immigration status may help the public understand current practices. An article explaining the business model of private prisons could explain why brown people are being rounded up and held for days without any explanation.
The public does not know a thing about classes of visas, TPS, asylum or refugee status, green cards and naturalisation, etc.
The term “illegals” is misapplied by the public, who don’t understand legitimate applications for legal status.
The courts are overwhelmed with cases held for months in squalid ICE detention who have legal right of residency or are tourists.
Overstaying a tourist or work visa, or not registering as a resident, is illegal and subject to deportation. It is not cause for being tortured. Cells with 24 hours illumination, a plastic sac on a concrete floor to sleep, a single toilet in the open with no privacy shared among those packed together. Denial of medical and emergency care, insufficient or spoiled food and water, no contact with outside, interminable detention periods.
Each soul held at a high daily per detainee-expense to taxpayers, at lowest cost to private prison contractors.
Unfathomable profits being made on their backs.
Too long of a read but if they are illegal in any way, they go. Hmmmm, why are they in a courthouse in the first place? Typical stupid liberals.
Calling people stupid is not a good way to get people to consider your opinion…
It’s rude and disrespectful, please do better and offer constructive feedback.
This country needs to be considerate and less opinionated about others if we are going to tackle these important issues.
Admitting something is “too long” for you to read and then calling someone else stupid is really something else.
Raised in Worcester in 50’s and 60’s I don’t recall ever hearing negative comments about immigrants. Every family I knew came from immigrant stock. The immigration laws were followed with few exceptions. Those who came to America did so publicly. They envisioned a new freedom. They found jobs; created businesses; went to school; learned the English language; got married; had children; paid their way; respected the rights of others; understood the meaning of “fairness”; and the list goes on. But most importantly, they felt part of a neighborhood where the laws were obeyed. Passing new laws that distort the American legal system cannot help. What will be achieved if this law is passed?
why don’t you take care of the American citizens and help THEM instead of helping those who are here illegally? We pay taxes, do things LEGALLY and get nothing in return… Why don’t you take them into YOUR homes and support them instead of using OUR hard earned $$$ to support them?
Ty!!!!
How about we pass laws to take care of our VETERANS! It’s disgusting that They are looking to put immigrants first.
You will never convince me that immigrants aren’t being given things that natural born or American citizens don’t qualify for. Veterans, elderly and American citizens FIRST!