Donald Trump and maga Republicans must support equal justice under the law for legal an innocent immigrants

Boston Globe Editorial Board echo:

Massachusetts can’t stop (evil❗) ICE. But it can help its vulnerable immigrant population. The horror of Minneapolis can happen here.

Some 1.2 million immigrants call Massachusetts their home. They are, as Governor Maura Healey put it, “workers, parents, caregivers, business owners, and essential contributors to the Commonwealth’s economy and civic life.” And, sadly, they are, at this moment, extremely vulnerable.

The nation has watched day after day the countless affronts to human dignity in Minneapolis as a Trump administration-ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement “surge” separates families and devastates a community. And, yes, it can happen here.

The unfortunate reality is that immigration enforcement is the federal government’s prerogative. There’s not much that the state can do about it if the federal government seeks to deport Massachusetts residents who are in the country illegally or revoke the legal status of those who are here legally.

But, given the terrible impact such indiscriminate actions would have on Massachusetts communities and on the economy, Healey and lawmakers are right to look for ways to at least reduce the harm (evil❗) ICE could do in the Commonwealth.

ICE is Ku Klux Klan with different color face masks.

And, so Healey issued a raft of measures last week, including new proposed legislation designed to codify immigrant protections. 

Some Democrats wish she’d gone further. But she is attempting to walk a fine line, protecting immigrants without overstepping the state’s authority and without taking actions that could boomerang on state residents.

Take the controversial agreements that some public agencies strike with ICE called 287(g) agreements. Some immigration advocates want to ban them altogether.

Healey doesn’t go quite that far — but for good reasons. Under her executive order, no executive branch office or agency may enter into a new 287(g) agreement to partner with ICE unless approved in writing by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, which must certify it is based on “a specific, articulable public safety risk or need.”

Currently, only the state Department of Correction has such an agreement. But that agreement serves a legitimate public safety purpose, allowing the state to turn over convicted criminals to ICE for deportation.

The Plymouth County House of Correction, which does house criminally charged detainees, currently operates under a separate, narrower agreement that would not be impacted by Healey’s order. The latter agreement is actually supported by many members of the immigrant community as a way to keep detained family members nearby.

Healey’s proposals would also bolster the protections for immigrants at state courthouses and in certain other spaces.

Under the so-called Lunn decision, handed down by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court in 2017, Massachusetts court officers have no power to hold a prisoner on a civil immigration detainer — unless a warrant has been issued for their arrest.

But, ICE agents often hang around at courthouses — which impedes the justice system by scaring away immigrants who are witnesses or participants in cases.

House Speaker Ron Mariano said in a statement that he has had “productive conversations” with caucus members, adding, “At the same time, we understand the deep nuance on this issue and the limitations of what the Commonwealth can do on immigration policy.”

The Legislature’s goal should be to lay out a clear policy that would withstand judicial scrutiny. The state may not be able to stop ICE, but it can guide state actors and state facilities in order to protect those who are indeed a critical part of our community.

In doing so the state would be standing up for Massachusetts values and the protections long offered by our own constitution, which guarantees “equality under the law” to all regardless of national origin. There is nothing ambiguous about that.

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“Access to justice cannot coexist with a threat of civil arrest looming over those who enter a courthouse to assert their right to defend themselves or to fulfill their civic obligations,” Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker said, appearing with Healey last week.

Tucker said recent ICE activity has deterred people from vulnerable populations from appearing as witnesses or as victims of crimes in the state’s courts. Healey’s bill, he said, “will help to relieve that fear and enhance public safety.”

The bill would also add the nonpublic areas of schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and child-care programs to the list of protected spaces that ICE is prohibited from accessing without a warrant.

And the bill would allow parents to prearrange guardianship in the event of detention or deportation.

“I’m really sorry to even have to utter those words,” Healey said, “but at the end of the day, we’ve seen here in Massachusetts and around this country, little kids taken away from their parents, left alone or in the care of maybe a neighbor, maybe the state. It’s wrong.”

The protections offered in Healey’s bill are attached to a supplementary budget, which provides both a certain urgency to its passage and requires — because it is a money bill — that it is first passed by the House, which is scheduled to caucus twice this week to consider Healey’s version and a bill, the PROTECT Act, offered by the Legislature’s Black and Latino caucus.

Immigration is essential for growing the American economy

Are immigrants welcome here or not?

Echo opinion published in The Boston Globe by Marcela Garcia:

Despite recent pushback, immigrants are significant contributors to the Massachusetts economy.

Last month, in the midst of an emergency shelter crisis, Democratic Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts warned migrants looking to move to the state that it has run out of room for them.

The message is clear: Migrants are not wanted here now.

On Wednesday, the state Legislature failed to reach a deal that would have approved Healey’s request for extra funding for emergency housing for newly arrived migrant families. There were disagreements among lawmakers over how to spend the funds, including whether the Hynes Convention Center could be used as a site to temporarily house migrants.

But lost in the debate is that, collectively, these migrant families will go on to become significant economic contributors if they’re allowed to stay and integrate. To be sure, that’s a big if. What’s undeniable is that immigrants create business at a greater rate than US citizens and add immensely to the economy.

Call it simple immigration math. Indeed, a new analysis and an interactive data map illustrate the contributions of immigrants to the United States.

On Monday, the nonprofit advocacy group American Immigration Council released 2021, figures on the tax contributions of immigrants, their participation in the workforce, home ownership data, and other metrics.

For instance, 1 in 8 individuals living in the United States is an immigrant, or 45.3 million people. While the immigrant population grew by nearly 4 percent between 2016 and 2021, the increase accounted for roughly 18 percent of the total population growth in the country in the same period. In 2021, immigrants paid more than $500 billion dollars in taxes. Included in that group are undocumented immigrants, who paid more than $30 billion in taxes in 2021.

The analysis also included a state-by-state snapshot of the immigrant population. In Massachusetts, immigrants represent nearly 18 percent of the overall population. Yet 1 in 4 entrepreneurs in the state are immigrants, which is higher than the national share of roughly 20 percent. As a group, immigrants have a spending power of nearly $50 billion and paid $17 billion in taxes in the Commonwealth.

In terms of the state workforce, nearly 29 percent of all STEM workers are foreign-born. They are also overrepresented in certain health care occupations: For instance, roughly 37 percent of home health care aides are immigrants.

The analysis also includes a count of the immigrant population here illegally. There are about 140,000 undocumented individuals (or about 11 percent of the immigrant population) in Massachusetts. They collectively pay 💲730 million in taxes.

As the Legislature continues its debate on the extra $250 million that Healey requested to deal with the shelter crisis, and Healey considers whether to keep a limit on the number of families offered emergency shelter, the data showing the impressive level of economic impact from immigrants in Massachusetts shouldn’t be ignored.