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By:
HARRISON MAINA | |||||||||
| Posted:
Jan,27-2017 12:47:01
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(Originally published December 10, 2016) BOSTON--Massachusetts State Police will not be enforcing the Federal immigration law nor inquire about any person's immigration status during interactions with residents---but has realigned their new policy to expand the list of those reportable to ICE---among them individuals convicted of serious state crimes, terrorism activities, significant misdemeanors such as domestic abuse, driving under the influence, and drug activities among others that were previously protected under former Governor, Deval Patrick.
The announcement was made by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker during a meeting with representatives of the ethnic media in Massachusetts on Thursday. The Governor was responding to concerns from ethnic media journalists in light of increased deportation concerns for those with expired immigration documents following the election of Donald Trump as president, having campaigned largely on a message to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. In a follow-up email statement, the Governor said that The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) updated their policy on Friday (day after the ethnic media meeting) regarding how State Troopers may interact with Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to align their policy with the six priority enforcement categories of the federal Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), enacted by the Obama Administration in July 2015. The previous state police policy put together under former Governor, Deval Patrick forbade members of the agency from contacting ICE for any reason unless they first received permission from their supervisor--even if that contact related to a customs matter rather than an immigration matter. The policy had been put in place in contrast to directives contained in the Federal "Secure Communities" program put in place by the Obama administration in an effort to protect against those deemed as posing dangers to local communities. "These restrictions were enacted out of a concern that the federal policy in place at the time, a program called "Secure Communities," was overly broad and not defined enough in terms of guidance regarding the kinds of individuals that would warrant a detainer,"' read part of the press release. According to Charlie Baker, the newly revised policy will not dismantle the previous administrations protections given to undocumented immigrants but will be upgraded to give the State Police more powers to flush out immigrants arrested for serious crimes or terrorism activities in order to protect the residents of the Commonwealth. "This policy revision gives the professionals of our statewide policing agency the tools necessary to detain criminals, gang members, or suspected terrorists wanted by federal authorities," said Governor Charlie Baker. "As before, the State Police will not be enforcing federal immigration law nor will they inquire about immigration status; they will now be able to assist in detaining for our federal partners individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety or national security," said the Governor on the follow-up clarification press release to ethnic media. Under the revised policy, MSP personnel will be able to temporarily detain removable aliens at ICE's request--individuals who under the former policy were not allowed to be held--if they fall into at least one of six federal priority enforcement categories and are already under arrest for committing a state crime. MSP personnel will also now be allowed to contact ICE without supervisory approval, as is the case for every other federal law enforcement agency. Like the policy it replaces, the revised MSP policy does not permit state troopers to stop or arrest people solely on the basis of their immigration status. It also reiterates that implementing federal immigration law is not part of MSP's mission. "With their statewide jurisdiction the State Police encounter a broad range of individuals on a daily basis and it makes sense from a public safety perspective to allow them to report and temporarily hold any type of individual wanted by federal authorities," said Secretary of Public Safety and Security Dan Bennett. "Now that ICE has moved to the Priority Enforcement Program, Massachusetts is changing its own policy to complement that effort to enhance public safety." Additional background on the federal Priority Enforcement Program: In July of 2015, the Obama Administration replaced ICE's Secure Communities program with a new Priority Enforcement Program, which focused its use of detainers on a limited number of removable aliens. Under the new Priority Enforcement Program, ICE's requests to state and local law enforcement to detain removable aliens are limited to people who fall into one of the following six priority enforcement categories: 1.The removable alien has engaged in or is suspected of terrorism or espionage, or otherwise poses a danger to national security; 2.The removable alien has been convicted of an offense of which an element was active participation in a criminal street gang, as defined in 18 U.S.C.§ 521(a), or is at least 16 years old and intentionally participated in an organized criminal street gang to further its illegal activities; 3.The removable alien has been convicted of an offense classified as a felony, other than a state or local offense for which an essential element was the alien's immigration status; 4.The removable alien has been convicted of an aggravated felony, as defined under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43) at the time of conviction; 5.The removable alien has been convicted of a "significant misdemeanor" as defined under DHS policy ("Significant misdemeanors" are:1) an offense of Domestic Violence; 2) Sexual Abuse or Exploitation; 3) Burglary; 4) Unlawful Possession/Use of a Firearm; 5) Drug Distribution/Trafficking; 6) Driving Under the Influence; and 7) any other offense for which an individual has been sentenced to time in custody of 90 days or more); and 6.The removable alien has been convicted of three or more misdemeanors, not including minor traffic offenses and state or local offenses for which immigration status was an essential element, provided the offenses arise out of three separate incidents. | |||||||||
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Source:
AJABU AFRICA NEWS
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