At the end of April, the Massachusetts House of Representatives defeated all proposed anti-immigrant amendments to the House Ways & Means budget, but also chose not to adopt any new protections for immigrants.
The executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), Eva A. Millona, has said,
“We are relieved that the Mass. House of Representatives defeated all the anti-immigrant budget amendments that would have entangled police in civil immigration enforcement and punished cities and towns that protect immigrants.
“The strong, bipartisan roll-call vote (145 to 10) against one such proposal, Rep. Jim Lyons’ amendment #347, shows that in Massachusetts, there is no political will to enlist our police in the federal crusade against immigrants. The Supreme Judicial Court’s Nunn v. Commonwealth decision, which barred law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers, still stands.
“But defeating anti-immigrant amendments is not enough. Immigrants in our Commonwealth urgently need new legal protections. To do nothing in the face of grave injustice is unacceptable. We will continue the fight in the Senate.”
On May 10 the senate budget was released and pro-immigrant amendments could be propose and added during budget debate week, May 21–23.
My suggestion remains that we follow existing law, and if amendments to the budget need to be added, insistence on this should be one of them .
For those who forget, or never knew to begin with, this is the 1843 Massachusetts state law that is still on the books:
General laws: Part 1:Title XV: Section 102. Which states “(a) All persons within the commonwealth, regardless of sex, race, color, creed or national origin, shall have, except as is otherwise provided or permitted by law, the same rights enjoyed by white male citizens, to make and enforce contracts, to inherit, purchase, to lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other.