‘Policy Returns Common Sense to the Role of the State Police’

RMA President & CEO Bill Connors was invited by The Boston Globe to write in support of a recent policy change permitting the Massachusetts State Police to detain, at the request of federal immigration authorities, an illegal immigrant arrested by troopers on state charges.  While an emotional topic, there is no doubt this policy will remove bad actors from our streets.

Here are excepts from Mr. Connor’s column printed July 1 in The Boston Globe.

No police officer wants to see a dangerous criminal walk out of jail, not when there is a lawful reason to keep him off the street and possibly prevent injury to innocent people.

Yet, until recently, that is what was expected of the State Police when dealing with violent criminals in this country illegally. If they arrested an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record, the defendant could possibly post bail and walk away.

The recent reversal of this ill-conceived policy returns common sense to the role of the State Police in providing reasonable assistance to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The new State Police policy targets criminals convicted of serious crimes such as violent felonies, drug dealing, and domestic abuse or who are threats to national security…

… The new policy clearly states, “Investigating and enforcing violations of federal immigration law is not a mission of the Massachusetts State Police.” The policy is neither directed at immigrants who are here legally, nor at illegal immigrants who otherwise obey the law…

…This new policy allows the State Police to keep our communities safer by taking violent and dangerous people off our streets. As a former police officer, I can tell you that’s the reason we joined law enforcement.