Activists for immigration reform fired back at Gov. Charlie Baker Wednesday at the State House, comparing comments made by the popular Republican chief executive to those of controversial presidential candidate Donald Trump.
At rally outside the State House, activists, many immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally, called for Baker to sit down with immigrant leaders and chastised him for seemingly rejecting legislation that would loosen law enforcement’s ability to share information with federal immigration officials.
Around two dozen ralliers from Centro Presente and the Student Immigrant Movement held signs with slogans such as “Gov. Baker: Will you “Trump” Immigrant families?” and “We don’t want Donald Trump’s Policies in MA!” and “Gov. Baker: Are you looking for a job with Donald Trump?”
“We are also here to let our governor know that here in MA we don’t want another Donald Trump, right? Here in Massachusetts we stand in solidarity with the immigrant community, that’s why we’re here,” Patricia Montes, Centro Presente’s executive director, said at the rally.
In his presidential announcement speech, businessman and entertainer Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters that Mexican immigrants “are not the best.”
After rallying not he State House steps, the activists entered Baker’s constituent services office and asked for meeting with the governor. Baker was in Ohio dropping his daughter off at college Wednesday, so staff from the governor’s office met with the protesters.
“They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said, according to a transcript.
The rally was a reaction to comments Baker made on WGBH News’ Boston Public Radio last week. Baker told hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan he would veto legislation that sets a statewide policy for relations between local police and the federal government’s immigration enforcers.
Baker was asked a question on the air about bills that would limit local law enforcement in assisting the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws.
“I would oppose that and if that got to my desk, I’d veto it,” Baker said while in WGBH News’ studio for his monthly appearance on the show.
Baker prefers allowing communities to decide for themselves if they want to participate in so-called “sanctuary city” policies.
“The people who are elected locally are most accountable to local communities and to local residents and they ought to make the call on this…. This is exactly the sort of thing we should not be doing at a statewide level,” Baker said on Boston Public Radio.
Baker supports the federal Secure Communities program which prioritizing the deportation of undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes or are deemed public safety threats and allows local police to check the immigration status of arrestees. He has said in the past that he doesn’t mind if towns or cities opt out of the program.
“Governor Baker opposes statewide legislation on sanctuary cities because he believes state law enforcement should have all tools at their disposal, including the Obama Administration’s Secure Communities program, to take dangerous criminals off the streets and recognizes that local officials who best know their neighborhoods should have the flexibility to make their own decisions,” Baker spokeswoman Elizabeth Guyton said in a statement.
Rep. Evandro Carvalho and Sen. Jamie Eldridge’s “Trust Act” (S.1258/H. 1228) would stop local police from participating in federal immigration enforcement unless it was a matter of public safety. Eldrige and Carvalho’s bill would mainly stop police from notifying the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency if a suspect was picked up for a minor crime and it would prevent police from holding suspects solely on immigration status. The bill would allow ICE to be notified if an immigrant in the community illegally was arrested for a violent crime and police could hold suspects under immigration charges if the suspect had a criminal record. The ralliers outside the State House Wednesday support passage of the bill.
According to his campaign platform, Trump supports forcing Mexico to pay for a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, deportation of any immigrant in the U.S. illegally with a criminal convictions, ending birthright citizenship and the defunding of “federal grants to any city which refuses to cooperate with federal law enforcement.”
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.
