Jun. 7—CONCORD — Republican legislative leaders will make a final attempt Thursday to convince House colleagues to drop their opposition to anti-“sanctuary city” legislation.
The specific proposal that GOP negotiators agreed to late last week was identical to one the House rejected last month by a 188-177 vote.
“We are hoping for a second shot at getting this passed,” said Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, who is retiring this fall. He had made illegal immigration reform a priority for the 2024 legislative session.
The measure would require all state, local and county law enforcement to cooperate when officials with the federal office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement contact them with an order to detain someone based on the belief they are in the country illegally.
The bill would cover only those already in custody after arrest on a state crime.
House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, said he scaled back a Senate-passed bill that would have required local police to make “reasonable efforts” to cooperate with federal authorities on all immigration matters.
The compromise amendment also prevents police from inquiring about the immigration status of someone who is the subject of a detainment order.
“This bill honors our long tradition of welcoming immigrants, while allowing our federal partners to carry out the laws as set by Congress,” Roy said.
Gilles Bissonnette, legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, said the proposal was blatantly unconstitutional.
“The new language tacked onto HB 1292 will now require law enforcement to detain people at the mere request of federal immigration agents — requests which are not signed off on by a judge and lack due process,” Bissonnette said in a statement.
Some local chiefs opposed
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, said six police chiefs, including those in Manchester, Nashua and Portsmouth, oppose the bill, warning it could harm relationships that law enforcement have with legal immigrant advocates in their home communities.
Supporters pursued the legislation after a few communities, including Hanover and Lebanon, adopted ordinances directing local police not to help with investigations of suspected illegal immigrants.
Bradley said Massachusetts is facing a $1 billion-a-year cost after Boston and several communities that adopted what critics call “sanctuary city” policies became inundated with undocumented immigrants.
“Our view in the Senate is when you have an incentive to come to the state, vis-à-vis sanctuary city policies, it becomes a magnet,” Bradley said.
Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, said police should not be required to respond to federal officials when their only request is a civil detainer that a judge has not reviewed.
Meuse praised GOP lawmakers for passing his bill (HB 596) this year to ban racial profiling but warned this immigration bill would send the opposite message.
House and Senate leaders removed Democratic members from the committee after they declined to sign the agreement.
Lawmakers on Thursday will consider a related compromise bill that Bradley also championed to create a new crime of criminal trespass for anyone who illegally goes on posted land in current use or onto any private property while in the commission of breaking state drug or human trafficking laws.
Owners of property in current use pay less in local taxes in exchange for allowing their land to be open for hunting, fishing and other recreational purposes.
Bradley said his proposed bill was needed after reports that illegal immigrants at the northern border were gaining access into the country by walking over privately owned land.
On Thursday, the House voted, 176-166, to kill identical language the Senate had added to an unrelated bail reform bill (SB 504).
At Bradley’s request, House GOP negotiators agreed this past week to add to a bill (HB 1018) that has bipartisan support. The bill would regulate the sale at cigar bars of hookah or water pipe products used to smoke flavored tobacco.
Signup bonus from
