Since January, the Trump Administration has waged an unprecedented terror campaign against immigrants living in this country. We need our state leaders to act quickly to protect our communities from ICE's cruelty and lawlessness. The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition and other immigrants' rights groups have prioritized three State House bills to address this crisis. These bills will be discussed at State House hearings on November 25th and they need your urgent support. They are:
- Immigrant Legal Defense Act (H.1954 / S.1127), which ensures that immigrants facing imminent deportation are provided with legal representation when they cannot afford to hire an attorney.
- Safe Communities Act (H.2580 / S.1681), which would prohibit public safety officials from voluntarily getting involved with civil immigration matters. Court and police officials would be prohibited from questioning anyone about their immigration status. Police chiefs and district attorneys across the state support this bill because undocumented immigrants will be able to report a crime or testify about any crimes they witness without fear of being reported to ICE. The bill also prohibits new 287(g) agreements and other forms of voluntary collaboration between law enforcement and ICE. Representative Manny Cruz of Salem is one of the presenters of this bill to the House.
- Dignity Not Deportations Act (H.1588 / S.1122) would prohibit sheriffs and local law enforcement from voluntarily renting beds to ICE and prevent state and local law enforcement from being deputized as ICE agents.
Where Our Legislators Stand
Below is a table that lists whether local state legislators have co-sponsored each of these immigration bills. If a legislator has co-sponsored a bill, ✅ appears in that column. If they have yet to co-sponsor the bill,❓appears instead.
| Immigrant Legal Defense Act | Safe Communities Act | Dignity Not Deportations Act | |
|---|---|---|---|
| H.1954 / S.1127 | H.2580 / S.1681 | H.1588 / S.1122 | |
| Sen. Joan Lovely | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Sen. Brendan Crighton | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ |
| Rep. Jennifer Armini | ❓ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rep. Hannah Bowen | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ |
| Rep. Dan Cahill | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ |
| Rep. Manny Cruz | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rep. Sally Kerans | ❓ | ✅ | ❓ |
| Rep. Sean Reid | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rep. Tom Walsh | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ |
| Rep. Donald Wong | ❓ | ❓ | ❓ |
Contact Your Legislators Today
If your legislators have co-sponsored any of these bills thank them for doing so and then urge them to support any bills they have yet to co-sponsor.
If your legislators have co-sponsored both bills, write them and thank them anyway. You can be sure they are getting emails from MAGA supporters opposing their support for these bills. Let your legislators know you have their backs when they stand up for immigrant rights.
Tips
- In the table above, each legislator's name links to their State House profile that includes their phone number, email address and a map of their district in case you are not sure whether they represent you.
- If you don't live on the North Shore or don't know who your state legislators are, find your legislator using the Progressive Massachusetts Legislative Scorecard. Enter your address to find your legislators. Then click on their scorecard page to see which bills (prioritized by PM) they have co-sponsored. Each scorecard tracks support for the Immigrant Legal Defense Act and the Safe Communities Act.
- If your legislator does not appear in the table above, check whether they support the Dignity Not Deportations Act by visiting the page for either the House or Senate bills (H.1588 / S.1122) and clicking the "Petitioners" tab. If your legislator has co-sponsored the bill, their name will be listed there.
Additional Resources
We plan to have more coverage on both of these bills. In the meantime, here are additional resources to learn more about them.
- For the Immigrant Legal Defense Act, check out Progressive Mass's Legislative Toolkit and MIRA's ILDA campaign webpage.
- For the Safe Communities Act, check out Progressive Mass's Legislative Toolkit, MIRA's SCA campaign webpage and their Protecting Massachusetts Communities campaign webpage. Also worth reading is the testimony submitted by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts in support of the bill.
- For the Dignity Not Deportations Act, check out this advocacy guide produced by a coalition supporting this bill:
- Other useful resources for the Dignity Not Deportations Act include this League of Women Voters of Massachusetts Legislative Summary and this factsheet from the ACLU of Massachusetts.
