A caucus representing state lawmakers of color introduced a package of bills Thursday meant to counter the way the Trump administration’s immigration policies play out in Rhode Island.
“People are living in real fear,” Sen. Tiara Mack (D-Providence), co-chair of the Rhode Island Black, Latino, Indigenous and Pacific Islander Caucus, said during a Statehouse news conference. “People are not going to work, people are keeping their children from school,” because of concerns they will be picked up by ICE.
Mack said she received a message earlier in the day indicating that someone intending to accompany a family member in court “was detained about a half-mile away from the Garrahy complex (in Providence) because ICE officers knew they would be there to support their relative.”
After ICE agents “wrongfully” detained a high school intern at a Providence courthouse in November, the state’s highest-ranking judge said the legal system will consider making virtual hearings more accessible.
One of the proposed bills would expand access to virtual court hearings. Another would prohibit civil arrests at courthouses without a valid judicial warrant.
Sen. Meghan Kallman (D-Pawtucket) said that when ICE targets people going to court, “This sends a really troubling message to the public, that courthouses are no longer neutral spaces. And when people begin to believe that entering a courthouse could put them at risk of detention without judicial oversight, they stop coming. Witnesses become reluctant to testify, victims hesitate to report abuse, and we’re already seeing the consequences of this.”
State Rep. Karen Alzate (D-Pawtucket), co-chair of the RIBLIA Caucus, said she’s seen similar concerns in the Central Falls portion of her district.
“We’ve had parents who have been followed to drop off their kids at school and be detained at school in front of their children,” Alzate said. “The biggest thing for us is that we want to make sure that Rhode Islanders feel like we are trying to keep them safe.”
One measure backed by RIBLIA says it would clarify the legal definition of felonies and misdemeanors by defining a year as 364 days - a distinction that supporters say would close a loophole allowing people to be deported for minor offenses. The Senate has repeatedly passed the measure, but it has died in the House due to what a spokesman called a lack of consensus.
Another bill would create a state-level civil cause of action allowing individuals to seek damages and legal relief when federal officials, acting under federal law, violate rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone is the sponsor in that chamber of the bill.
A different measure would require law enforcement to display clearly visible identification during public interactions and limit the use of face coverings.
Other bills in the package remove a five-year waiting period for legal residents to receive benefits under the RI Works program; and prohibit state and local law enforcement from being part of 287(g) agreements that shift local resources to ICE.
The news conference unveiling the legislation was conducted in English and Spanish.
Mack is co-chairing a coalition with state legislators from more than 30 other states supporting legislative responses to the immigration policies coming from Washington.
She said many Trump administration policies are “a threat to all Rhode Islanders, not just our immigrant communities.”
