VALLEY
PATRIOT WEB EXTRA
Legislators
Unveil Comprehensive Illegal Immigration
Package
Emphasis
on Public Safety and Taxpayer Dollars
BOSTON
– With the recent tragic death of
Milford resident Matthew Denice, Sen.
Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, and Rep.
John V. Fernandes, D-Milford, joined
together with Sen. Bruce E. Tarr,
R-Gloucester, and Rep. George Peterson
Jr., R-Grafton, in drafting comprehensive
legislation that absent a federal
solution to legal and illegal
immigration, addresses the strains placed
on personal, municipal, and statewide
finances as a result of illegal
immigration.
“An Act To Enhance Community Safety”
addresses the impact illegal immigration
has on our local police, our local
schools, our local housing markets, and
our local economies.
“This legislation offers a
comprehensive solution to the problems
created by illegal immigration,”
stated Moore “This is not a partisan
issue and we must work together in the
name of public safety,” added Moore.
This legislation, first and foremost,
addresses the implementation of the
Secure Communities Program. With
increased interest across the
Commonwealth, this legislation includes a
report to the legislature by the
Executive Office of Public Safety (EOPS),
in which they are to identify how they
are assisting with the deployment of the
Secure Communities Program.
The legislation attempts to address an
increase in the strain placed on schools,
hospitals, courts and other institutions
as a result of illegal immigration in
many Massachusetts communities. “We
agreed to draft and file a comprehensive
piece of legislation which will seek to
address all the issues within the control
of state government," Moore said.
Moore, Fernandes, Tarr and Peterson said
the bipartisan sponsors of the bill will
be helpful as it moves through the
legislative process. Senate co-sponsors
are: Sen. Steve A. Baddour, D-Metheun,
Sen. James E. Timilty, D-Walpole, Sen.
Robert L. Hedlund, R-Weymouth, Sen.
Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield, and Sen.
Richard J. Ross, R-Wrentham and Rep.
Stephen L. DiNatale, D-Fitchburg.
“Enough is enough,” said Bruce
Tarr, “and many publicized incidents
over the past several months have proven
time and again that the price for
tolerating the acts of those who refuse
to respect the laws of our nation and our
Commonwealth is harm to our citizens and
abuse of our resources. The time is long
overdue for us to act in a comprehensive
way to protect public safety and ensure
that public funds benefit only those who
deserve them.”
The bill comes about one month after
Milford resident Matthew Denice died in a
motor vehicle accident. Denice, 23, was
killed when Nicolas D. Guaman, an illegal
immigrant who was driving drunk, struck
Denice's motorcycle, police say.
"While we’ve worked to address
some of these issues in other bills and
the state budget, I think certainly the
incident with Matthew Denice's death has
caused us to redouble our efforts and try
to be more comprehensive in our
approach," Moore said.
“For the first time, we have a bill
that is covering nearly all the steps we
need to take as a Commonwealth to ensure
that taxpayers – not illegal
immigrants – benefit from public
programs and are as safe as possible from
those that are here illegally seeking to
do our citizens harm”, said Baddour.
“We cannot and should not be
spending monies from taxpayer-funded
public benefit programs on those who are
breaking the law.”
Denice's death has sparked a call for
illegal immigration reforms including
adopting Secure Communities, a federal
initiative designed to facilitate
communication between federal immigration
authorities and local police.
Joao Brito of the Netherlands was
arrested and charged in May, 2011 for his
connection to the vandalism of a vehicle
in Boston. Fingerprints from the arrest
revealed that Brito was wanted by Dutch
authorities for sexual abuse of children
and human smuggling, information obtained
because of the successful use of the
Secure Communities Program being
implemented in Suffolk County.
And then on the morning of Saturday,
September 24, 2011 Eduardo Torres was
charged with his 6th OUI. During a
sobriety test Torres provided police
officers with a fake name and only after
booking did they learn that he had 2
previous OUI arrests in Massachusetts and
3 in California. It was also discovered
that Torres had previously been deported
out of the country.
The bill unveiled today would require
individuals or businesses seeking to
register a vehicle to produce
documentation such as a federal tax
identification number, license or social
security number. The bill would also
strengthen penalties for people who drive
without a license or knowingly allow
someone else to drive their vehicle.
"It's a major concern,"
Peterson said of driving without a
license. "As we move forward, I
think we need to tighten up our rules and
regulations to ensure that anyone with a
Massachusetts driver’s license is a
legal resident of the Commonwealth and
the United States."
Current fines for driving without a
license range from $100 to $1,000. The
bill would create a $500 fine for a first
offense, $500 to $1,000 fine and/or a
30-day jail term for a second offense,
and $1,000 to $2,000 fine and/or a 60-day
jail sentence for a third or subsequent
offense. Police may require the suspect
to forfeit his or her vehicle after the
third offense.
In addition to illegal immigrants,
"it's recognizing there are people
who are citizens as well as illegal
aliens, who don't have a license and
still drive continuing to pose a danger
to the public," Moore said.
The legislation also ensures that
state-subsidized housing is reserved for
legal Massachusetts residents and aims to
help local building officials prevent
multi-bedroom apartments from housing
several families.
Employment provisions of the bill include
establishing penalties for employers who
knowingly hire unauthorized workers and
requiring companies seeking public
contracts to participate in programs to
verify the eligibility of their
employees, according to the documents.
"I firmly believe that the source of
the problem is employment,"
Fernandes said of illegal immigration.
"If people can't work, they either
won't come here or won't stay here."
Further provisions of the bill include
those which:
*Require
anybody submitting an affidavit of
indigency to submit their social security
number in order to verify their income
eligibility which would be transmitted
through the Department of Revenue
*Require that an applicant sign a
statement certifying that there are no
outstanding excise tax liabilities on the
motor vehicle
*Require that the Registrar maintain a
record of vehicles and trailers that are
registered after satisfying the
application requirements
* Require a report to the Legislature, as
well as a cost estimate from EOPS,
detailing the existing hurdles
Massachusetts faces in connecting the
various databases in order to effectively
execute the license plate reader
technology
*Require that the immigration status of
anyone detained for DUI be ascertained
within 48 hours of confinement
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pictures and written material are (C)
Copyright, Tom Duggan & Valley
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