BOSTON — Republican lawmakers have refiled a proposal that would authorize state and local judges to hold criminal suspects on federal immigration detainers, as incoming President Donald Trump is pledging to conduct the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.
The proposal, filed by Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, would authorize court officials to honor detention requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for up to 12 hours if the individual has been convicted of murder, rape, domestic violence, narcotics, human trafficking or other serious crimes.
Tarr said the proposal isn’t meant to help the incoming Trump administration roundup undocumented immigrants, pointing out that Republicans have filed similar bills in previous legislative sessions.
“This is not about mass deportation, it’s about a selective group of people that pose a threat to public safety,” Tarr said in remarks on Tuesday. “This is about the day-to-day situation we see in the courts where folks are being released after being charged, and in some cases convicted, of serious crimes.”
ICE detainers, which can be criminal or civil, ask local law enforcement before releasing a person subject to deportation to hold them for an additional 48 hours, allowing the immigration agency time to take the person into custody.
Recent news reports have detailed how police and courts have refused to honor ICE detainers, in some cases, for violent felons who are ultimately released.
Another proposal, filed by state Steve Xiarhos, R-Barntable, would prohibit law-enforcement agencies from not honoring ICE detainers and require regular reports detailing any refusals to honor the requests.
The proposals are part of a package of bills rolled out by the Republican minority caucuses in the House and Senate as the new legislative session gets underway, which included proposed changes to the state’s right-to-shelter law, limits on the length of shelter stays by migrants, and residency requirements for emergency housing.
Republicans have been stepping up scrutiny of the Healey administration over its handling of the state’s shelter system following revelations that criminal background checks weren’t conducted on many migrants who are receiving housing, food, and other assistance from the state.
They point to public records requests showing thousands of reported incidents in shelters over the past two years, including rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
But the proposal on ICE detainers comes as Trump, who takes over the White House next week, with his border ‘czar’ Tom Homan vowing to make good on the president-elect’s campaign promises to detain and deport undocumented immigrants and threatening to punish states that don’t comply with a federal immigration crackdown.
Tarr’s proposal in the latest push to blunt the effect of a 2017 court ruling that made Massachusetts a de facto ‘sanctuary’ state.
In 2017, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that state law doesn’t give local police the authority to detain people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally unless that person faces criminal charges.
The ruling stemmed from a case involving a Cambodian man who was living in the country illegally, but was detained when he couldn’t post bail for unrelated charges.
The justices ruled that police cannot cooperate when federal authorities ask for someone to be held until they can arrive with a detainer. The ruling said the Legislature has the power to require that or restrict it.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, then-Gov. Charlie Baker filed a bill in 2017 that sought similar authority for judges to hold dangerous criminal suspects wanted by federal immigration officials. But lawmakers declined to take up the Republican’s plan.
To be sure, Tarr’s bill faces long odds of coming up for a vote in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, which has been reluctant to give judges broader authority to hold suspects on ICE detainers following the SJC’s ruling. Bills similar to Baker’s proposal have been filed in every legislative session, but failed to gain traction.
Meanwhile, Democrats are expected to make another push to pass legislation to formally make Massachusetts a ‘sanctuary’ state by forbidding state police, sheriffs and local law enforcement from detaining people on behalf of federal immigration agencies.
Sanctuary policies vary widely by community. Many are aimed at preventing local police from acting as immigration agents or enforcing federal immigration laws, which are both civil and criminal in nature.
Despite increasing support for a statewide mandate, the so-called ‘safe communities act’ has failed to win approval on Beacon Hill in previous legislative sessions.
Gov. Maura Healey, a first-term Democrat, has pushed back on claims that Massachusetts is a de-facto ‘sanctuary’ state and argues that law enforcement isn’t allowing undocumented criminals to be released into the community. But she has also vowed to fight Trump’s mass deportation plans.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.