BOSTON, MA- Yet another state is trying to circumvent federal immigration law by passing a nonsensical bill that will make liberals feel good but will likely have little effect on immigration officials.
On Wednesday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a far-left Democrat hack, signed the so-called “Protect Act” into law, the Boston Herald reports. Because it was passed as an “emergency,” the law goes into effect immediately. The bill’s passing drew the ire of the Department of Homeland Security.
“When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” a DHS spokesperson told the Herald in a written statement.
“Seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE,” the spokesperson continued. “Instead of working with us, Massachusetts lawmakers are choosing to RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims. Sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety.”
Under the legislation, it would prohibit ICE from making civil immigration arrests without a warrant at schools, courthouses, childcare centers, and medical facilities, in addition to state-run facilities.
The law also mandates that Massachusetts employers tip off illegal alien employees about pending I-9 inspections by DHS, while banning state and local law enforcement agencies from entering into deputization agreements (287g) with federal immigration authorities “except in narrow, criminal law-focused arrangements that meet additional safeguards.”
In signing the bill, Healey engaged in typical liberal gaslighting.
“Today, we the people of Massachusetts are standing up and fighting back because we know what we need to do. We know what ICE is doing is wrong, and it needs to stop,” Healey bloviated.
The exaggeration and truth-stretching continued from there.
“Moms ripped from their cars while kids are watching. People who’ve been working here in Massachusetts, working hard, paying taxes for years, are being put on planes and sent far, far away. Innocent people shot and killed, U.S. citizens stopped and detained, peaceful protesters arrested. This is what ICE is doing to our people and our neighborhoods.”
Healey failed to mention that according to the New York Times, ICE made roughly 35,000 arrests at homes, workplaces, or elsewhere in the community in 2009, under Obama. There is no record of Healey complaining back then. Moreover, raids on homes were common during the early Obama years, with ICE officials often forcing entry into private residences. Again, no complaints from Healey or Democrats.
The White House slapped back and said Democrats are putting illegal alien criminals ahead of American citizens.
“Democrats continue to prove that they will always put criminal illegals before American citizens. ICE officers heroically protect American communities from wanted criminals who put the safety of law-abiding Americans at risk,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Herald. “Anyone attacking ICE officers for enforcing federal immigration law is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens.”
Healey also lashed out at reports ICE is seeking 250 parking spots in Boston, saying the agency needs to “keep their vehicles out of Boston.”
“We cannot allow ICE to have 250 parking spots in downtown Boston while they are engaging in these illegal tactics. We cannot enable them to ramp up even further in Massachusetts,” Healey complained in a press release.
Healey’s anti-ICE comments were echoed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who called ICE’s operations “lawless.”
“This administration has used ICE to make violent and deadly attacks on American cities. The city opposes any efforts to allow ICE to stage its lawless operations here,” a Boston city spokesperson said.
Healey scurried off like a rat after signing the bill, leaving it to Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll to speak for the administration. When asked if Massachusetts should be considered a “sanctuary state” considering the new law, Driscoll replied, “We’re a safe state. That’s what we are now.”
Massachusetts may be a “safe state” but not so much in Boston. This summer has seen a spike in gun violence in the city, including multiple multi-victim shootings over the 4th of July weekend (2 dead, 11 injured in five incidents) and fatal shootings in August in the Dorchester, Hyde Park, and East Boston sections of the city, according to the Boston Globe. The Boston police union has complained about understaffing and weekend violence, the Globe reported.
DHS shared some of the public safety threats removed from Massachusetts streets during the second Trump administration.
Jorge Luis Pena, an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, has been convicted of two counts of statutory rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old in Boston.
Ghinh Nguyen, an illegal alien from Vietnam, previously convicted of numerous sex crimes in New Bedford, including rape with a weapon, sexual assault, aggravated assault, kidnapping, firing a weapon, intimidation, and possession of a weapon.
Leonardo Miliano, also an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, convicted of carrying a loaded firearm without a license and carrying a firearm without a license in Lynn.
Omar Johnson, an illegal alien from Jamaica, convicted of two counts of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting in Boston.
While pro-illegal alien groups applauded the bill, the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform issued a statement in opposition to the measure, saying it “goes well-beyond earlier sanctuary legislation, which simply refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities (mainly ICE), by dictating the terms under which ICE may carry out its Congressionally assigned duties.”
Two Republicans vying to unseat Healey in November’s election, Brian Shortsleeve and Mike Minogue, are outspoken critics of the legislation.
Healey, meanwhile, laughably claims Massachusetts is not a “sanctuary state.”
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