PRESS STATEMENT: MIRA Applauds End of "Immigrant Hunt" Agreement in Mass. Municipalities

Framingham and Barnstable end Immigration Enforcement Deals

BOSTON-- In a major victory for immigrants and public safety advocates, all Massachusetts municipalities have now have ended participation in the highly criticized program that allows local law enforcers to act like federal immigration agents. This morning, the Boston Globe reported that the two remaining Massachusetts localities in the program, Barnstable and Framingham, have canceled their agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 287(g), as the program is known. The program -- "which enlists local law-enforcement agencies to hunt illegal immigrants," as a recent New York Times editorial characterized it -- has been criticized by the Government Accounting Office and deplored by independent reports for decreasing trust in the police and increasing the potential for racial profiling. The Police Foundation, a nonprofit research organization, found in an April report that the program strained budgets and undermined efforts at community policing. As one police chief told the report's authors, "How can you police a community that will not talk to you?" "We applaud the Framingham Police Department and The Barnstable County Sheriff's Office for ending their 287(g) accords," said Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). "It will go a long way toward restoring trust in the police among immigrant communities, thereby making all our towns and cities safer and more peaceful." The only remaining 287(g) accord in the state is with the Department of Correction. "We recognized the importance of detaining dangerous criminals and punishing their illegal behavior to the full extent of the law," Millona continued. "But 287(g) only detracts the police from this primary mission. In fact, its counterproductive effects work against the police's ultimate function-- to serve and protect."