Take Action

Dear Allies and Partner Organizations, We invite you to add your name to a collective rebuttal of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s recent guidance on the alarming string of ICE-led abductions and disappearances in Massachusetts. We refuse to remain silent while our neighbors are targeted. Please share with your networks as well. To add your individual or organization’s support please complete the form below by June 30, 2025. For any questions, please contact [email protected] WMSA Facebook . An Open Letter to Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell and Governor Maura T. Healey May 31, 2025 Attorney General Campbell, Governor Healey, In the morning hours of May 8 in Worcester, ICE agents wrestled a grandmother to the pavement while her sixteen-year-old daughter—having only moments earlier handed her infant family member to a bystander—begged them to show a warrant. The grandmother is now in ICE custody at the Plymouth County detention facility; the children have been placed with DCF. Neighbors who tried to shield the family were charged with assault. Scenes like this foreshadow what Massachusetts could face statewide when Executive Order 14288, set to take effect on July 27, 2025, draws Homeland Security task forces deeper into local policing and attempts to conscript state resources into the deportation machine. Your May 29 guidance, Attorney General Campbell, rightly names the cruelty of these raids: parents seized in front of their children, people with no criminal record taken from their cars in broad daylight. Yet the document then pivots to etiquette. It is, in essence, a script for how to behave while being abducted. It neither challenges the raids nor confronts the injustice of ICE’s operations. Instead, it manages the optics—offering legal etiquette to accompany the violation of human rights. But make no mistake: dignity cannot be preserved through silence or composure in the face of terror. We demand more than postures of concern. We demand action. What Massachusetts must do now Make Massachusetts a true sanctuary state • Declare statewide sanctuary status today by executive order, barring state and local agencies from sharing data with ICE or acting as de facto immigration deputies. • Codify those protections by passing the Safe Communities Act (S. 1681) so they cannot be rolled back by a future administration. Dismantle state–ICE pipelines • Cancel the Department of Correction’s 287(g) agreement. • Terminate Plymouth County’s IGSA detention contract. • Ban any new ICE or DHS contracts or memoranda of agreement. These steps keep state personnel and tax dollars focused on genuine public safety—not federal removals. Sue to stop Executive Order 14288 before July 27 File immediately in federal court for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, arguing that EO 14288 unlawfully commandeers state officials and chills equal-protection guarantees. As the Commonwealth’s chief law officer, the Attorney General has clear standing to defend state sovereignty. Restore and expand remote court access The statewide pandemic order lapsed on March 31, leaving only a handful of court sessions with routine Zoom access. Codify hybrid and remote options across every court department so no resident must risk detention, illness, or childcare crises to exercise basic legal rights. Investigate every ICE arrest for potential kidnapping Under G.L. c. 265, § 26, confinement without a judicial warrant may constitute kidnapping. (ICE’s administrative warrants are not signed by a judge and do not meet the requirements of a judicial warrant under Massachusetts law.) Direct the Massachusetts State Police and district attorneys to review each ICE operation for state-law violations and publish the findings. Guarantee legal representation in immigration proceedings • Establish and fund a statewide universal-representation program so that every immigrant detained or residing in Massachusetts who faces removal has access to a qualified attorney at state expense. • Partner with community-based legal-aid organizations to implement the program swiftly and ensure language-accessible services. Massachusetts has long styled itself a bulwark against injustice. Prove it again. Declare and codify sanctuary protections, sever every voluntary link to ICE, challenge EO 14288 before it takes effect, guarantee remote access to justice, provide attorneys for every immigrant facing removal, and treat every warrant-less raid as the potential abduction it is. We are watching. We are organizing. We will not be silent. In solidarity, Western Mass Solidarity and Action (WMSA) Massachusetts 50501 Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) Western Mass General Strike Indivisible Southeast Mass Out Now Indivisible Plymouth No Kings Westfield Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence Swing Left Western MA Indivisible Indivisible SouthCoast NE Fortuna Major Press League of Women Voters- Amherst Indivisible Easthampton Change The Mass Flag Defending Democracy in Hampden County Sunderland Human Rights Task Force Shavon Prophet Jesse Richards Lynne Weintraub Laurel Carangelo Jeanne Weintraub-Mason Paul Lipke Heather Hemphill Tamara Kaplan Karen Stevens Leigh Rae Maria Beltran Elizabeth Haymaker Heather Hall Judith Lorei Tom Weinreich Ziv Nelson-Shore Emily Monosson Jim Asbel Michelle Bonnayer Barry De Jasu Nancy Becker Ben Ross Shelley Quintin Patricia Tierney Heather Hemphill Michelle Spring-Moore Amy Dawn Kotel Rochelle Sokoll Janet Masucci Stacey Ridell Priscila Goldman Andrea Estepa Deb Friedman Rafael Wolman Julie Devi Leigh Ann Sarah Kleinschmidt Robin Harris Amy Rudnick Christian McEwen Peggy Kocoras Richie Davis Lachlan Thompson Meghan Tauck Suz Montgomery Laura Seamon-Ingalls Tal Good Anne Moore Dorian Gregory Tom Sullivan Clarke Bankert Craig Swallow Liza Ramlow Laurel Turk Sophia Hartdegen Suellen Walsh Kit Siegle Aimee Lennon Donald Gerasimchik Kenneth Sullivan Marcia Merithew Katherin Hudkins Johanna Ruth Derek Sachs Emily Fox George Bieber Louise Hurwitz Michelle Bushey Kristen Elde Saskia Fabricant Risa Sudolsky Joann Lutz Molly Thomas Helen Harrison Carolyn Sailer Justin Cascio Diane Nassif Henry Geddes Sally Rice Christine Marglin Kate Albrecht Kyle Strauss Laurie Rhoades Susan Worgaftik Beth A. Baron Susan Triolo Lynne Pledger Cheri Ricciardi Nick Wechsler Leslie Cerier Kerri Ann McDill David Greenberg James Thornley Gail Fleischaker Hollie Kalkstein Nicole Jablon Ferd Wulkan Marcia Merithew Michael J. Dover Madelyn Rhenisch John Rae Susan Lowery Joannah Whitney Lucille A. Fandel Susanae Glovacki Carrie Kline Elizabeth Bone Jo Boskind David Detmold Aiham Korbage Judi Fonsh Theodore Walls Lisa Enzer Lee Hazelton Susan Miller-King Paul Jablon MaryEllen Kennedy Gretchen Krull Tim McNerney Joanna Lawless Diane Hicks Peter Garbus Patricia Williams Bruce Hawkins Jessica Tanner Lea Galanter Donna Fellows Hassan I Elzeneiny Mary Barnett Elizabeth Skelley Tamara Sloan Steve Shattuck Miriam DeFant and Jill Buchanan Fran Arsenault Youme Nguyen Ly Morgan McKee Susan Darms Joan Deely Judy Raphael Donna Dusell Marina Goldman (APRN) Holly Richardson (Out Now) Daylan (MA 50501) Maria (Leader of Indivisible Southeast Mass) Haley (Indivisible of Southeast Mass) Sandy Cormier (Indivisible Plymouth) Tusi Gastonguay (Indivisible Northampton) Don Ogden (The Enviro Show) Pixie Holbrook (Immigration Rights Task Force of FCCPR)

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