Mass NOW Testifies in Favor of the Protect Act
On March 4th, Ainsley Tischler–our Event and Policy student co-op–presented testimony in front of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, in favor of the PROTECT Act (H.5158).
This act would require prior ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employment or contracting be disclosed when applying for police certification or recertification, establish standards for immigration detention facilities (such as providing rights at intake in a detanee’s primary language, ensuring attorney client communication, updated and accurate detanee electronic locating, ensuring detanee access to immigration proceedings, etc), set restrictions on law enforcement collecting or recording a persons immigration status or disclosing nonpublic information to federal immigration agencies without a warrant, prohibit the execution, expansion, or renewal of 287(g) forms, establish court house protections for civil immigration arrests, and strengthens the protects of immigrant victim certifications.
At this hearing, the joint committee heard from immigrants and non-immigrants across Massachusetts. Mass NOW testified regarding constitutional rights and upholding democratic institutions, while teachers testified to child unenrollment and nurses testified to families delaying care to avoid ICE.
Massachusetts families do not deserve to live in fear–no matter their immigration status–and Mass NOW urges the Joint Committee to report the PROTECT Act favorably out of committee.
If you feel passionately about this issue, here's what you can do to help:
Find your legislators and their contact information using this link.
Call or email your Representative asking them to talk to Chair Michlewitz about bringing the PROTECT Act to a vote in House Ways and Means.
Call or email your Senator asking them to co-sponsor and vote in favor of the PROTECT Act when it gets to the Senate.
