I was sickened, saddened, and angered to watch the video of the detention of Rumesya Ozturk.
For me, legal due process for every person is a fundamental American value. In my America, people are not mysteriously abducted on the streets for their political views: Unmarked vehicles, masked agents, confiscating her phone to cutoff communication . . . “we are the police” . . . a scene from another country.
I am grateful that lawyers are fighting these lawless detentions across the country and I am watching anxiously to see how the courts rule and how the administration responds. I’m also glad that our congressional delegation is standing up to ask questions: While the powers of the minority party in Congress are limited, it does help for all us to speak out in support of the rule of law.
At the state legislative level, we have had before us for several sessions a bill known as the Safe Communities Act. I have long supported this legislation, which seeks to keep state and local law enforcement officers out of the business of immigration enforcement. There is a similar bill known as the “Dignity Not Deportations Act” which speaks to the same basic separation of duties.
In 2017, I explained the need for this separation of duties as follows:
The first job of local and state governments is to keep the domestic peace. We in state and local government should, of course, generally support the work of the federal government, but should not get involved in federal work where it may conflict with local work.
In practice, making local law officers into immigration officers creates some unacceptable conflicts. If a man is abusing a woman, or if violent gangs are terrorizing a neighborhood, we want that woman or the people in that neighborhood to feel free to go the police without fear that the police will pounce on them and check their papers.
If there are many undocumented people in a community, it is especially dangerous to make the police into immigration enforcers. If everyone in the community (likely a mix of documented and undocumented) is afraid of the police, then no one will talk to the police, which, in turn, will make it impossible for the police to solve crimes and community problems.
Will Brownsberger, 2017 Statement on Safe Communities Act
Now, with ICE attempting to depart from basic principles of due process, the separation becomes compelling a new way.
There are many different stages of the law enforcement process and the relationship between local, state, and federal law enforcement can take different forms at each stage. So we do need to sort out the differences between the two pending bills and iron out the nuances, but I hope we can find our way to a consensus response.
As I said in 2017 (and the words are even more to the point in March 2025):
The events of the last few days make clear that we should expect rapid change, arbitrary harshness and continuing confusion in federal immigration policy.
That makes it essential that Massachusetts define its own clear policies as to the role of local and state criminal justice authorities in enforcing federal immigration policy.
Will Brownsberger, 2017 Statement on Safe Communities Act
Consensus on a state legislative response has so far eluded us, but the need for clarity in state policy is even more compelling now.
Time for citizens to arrest he criminals, beginning with the moron in the White House. Along with the 34-count felon, the losers he has empowered to destroy this country.
Citizen’s arrests cut both ways… I’d not suggest this as a response as it’s basically people taking legal matters into their own hands – a slippery slope headed towards militias and civil war. For the time being at least, we can clarify the laws and due process, amend where necessary – and follow them.
Thank you, Senator, for your words here. I, and many of my friends, American and non-American, are also deeply distressed by ICE’s violations of fundamental rights. Whether someone is a criminal or not, our justice system needs to be held to the standards of the law.
Thank you, Will. This is hugely important. Either we’re a nation of rights and laws, or we are a mockery of the sacrifices of generations before us.
I was sickened just the same with this gestapo assault on an individual here in the US – in good standing – and with no due process. It’s appalling. Marco Rubio is a mouse and Stephen Miller a mole. They make up stories as to justify their assault.
Thank you for your perspective. I will write to the powers that be on this issue, too.
Thanks, Christine!
I think it is essential that Massachusetts, the cradle of liberty, moves forward with a compromise of the statements made in these bills. Our local law enforcement should not be coopted to support “disappearances”–something I always though only happened in totalitarian regimes.
Is Rumesya in your district?…
Is it unreasonable to ask you to concentrate efforts within your district by helping to make the roads safer for pedestrians? Ever go for a walk around Belmont and Waltham during the week? I bet you would not survive a day without getting hit…. Are you against my suggestion in helping pedestrians by policing drivers through things such as red light cameras?
I’m very much in support of red light cameras! See generally this thread which focuses on traffic safety, including automated enforcement.
Say it ain’t so… we are a free people not like Xi’s surveilled subjects bowing and scraping for social credits. We must do right, because it is right not because Big Brother is watching, to do so we further make morality an atrophied vestige.
But “we” don’t do right.Thousands of jerks run red lights every day in this area putting pedestrians and other drivers at risk. We need cameras for enforcement.
Or, civics classes. Maybe encourage church, temple and mosque attendance, or at least ease up the assault on moral life.
What is the root cause analysis determination of the lack of adherence and why land on a secondary, i direct recourse of surveillance, which is rife with the potential of abuse and corruption.
Also, the moral laxity around intersections is an indicator where we need to improve our citizenry and if politician had not vacated moral spaces (see state lottery, abetting commercial gambling, tax cash grab on legalized whacky tabakee, pawning off our vulnerable brother and sisters to the streets and drug use (it’s one thing to de-stigmatize and virtue-signal while doing so, it’s another to take some responsibility and ownership of less than fully competent persons) signing-off on the Sackler’s bribe, &c, &c. I say let’s get some broader moral vision on the Democratic slates.
Look, why is this titled after the name of the arrestee, and not after the practice of abductions with murky cause? It smacks of opportunistic populism and feeds the division that brought our party so low.
Sir, you cannot possibly be saying that forced disappearances are the actions of another country and, simultaneously, that we need more state surveillance and enforcement than we already have. These are directly contradictory views. Yes, a free society means rule of law, but total enforcement is the definition of tyranny. It will very soon become apparent how foolish it was to build so much surveillance into our daily society, if it is not already.
Thank you, Senator. As always, you are right on the mark.
Thank you, Will. It’s terrifying. And intentionally so.
Thank you!! Please continue to speak up. What is going on is horrifying and previously unimaginable. This is not our country.
Thank you, Sen. Brownsberger! We residents will continue to demonstrate, write op eds, and speak out on this issue — and look to you and the legislature to do the right thing. The federal situation is terrible and we in Mass. need to stay strong, maintain humane and just policies here, and resist illegal moves like this one (and many others) as much as possible.
Thank you Senator. I agree about the need to clarify state policy. Do you know of any way to directly aid Rumesya Ozturk now and have here safely returned to MA? I have read in the Globe that she needs medications for her asthma.
Hmmm. Sounds innocuous enough: Tufts student paper, “the Tufts administration to meaningfully enga, and Palestine-related resolutions passed by the university’s Student..”
How about her efforts to stymie Israel’s efforts to undo the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Jews from “Palestine?”: “ demanding that the University acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel. These resolutions were the product of meani
As misguided, misleading and destructive as Ozturk’s efforts are, especially in perpetuating the status of captive pawns as Arab Palestinians are, she has First Amendment protections and deserves due process, because we all deserve due process.
Is Ms. Ozturk also working towards an Arab Spring and reformation? Is she working towards women’s liberation and freedom from subjugation? Is she working to make life tolerable in the enclaves for homosexuals? What is her thinking on Rushdie? And Charlie Hebdo? And, the universal right to butn a book if they so wish. Pah!
She is Turkish, from Turkey, and is not an Arab, so it’s not clear what you expect her to do. Women in Turkey have had the right to vote and to run for office since 1930. In any event, what do her nonviolent opinions on any subject have to do with her being snatched off the street by masked agents of the state and taken without charges or information to a private prison a thousand miles from here? The first amendment applies to everyone here, not just citizens or people with government approved opinions.
These arrests seem an anathema, but consider that the framing of Israel’s defensive measures following the second intifada as “apartheid” as President Carter shamefully endorsed is an act of misinformation that gives terrorists aid, comfort, cover and legitimacy.
I expect her concern should to extend to her oppressed co-religionists across the Islamic world if Arab world puts too fine a point on it. The Arab spring was only the first blossom of a larger phenomenon that may culminate in a Great Reformation.
P.s., the two state solution has always been a tool and political cover, not a thing that would ever be realized. The Palestinians are not “The Wretched of the Earth,” the land the Romans spite-named “Palestine,” is not Algeria, or Ireland, or South Africa, and the Zionists are not colonizers, but the undoers of genocide and ethnic cleansing. If Ms. Ozturk has practical compassion for the Palestinians in the enclaves she would advocate for the 1/3 of the “Palestinian” population who don’t care to remain as pawns freedom of travel.
You know who’s actually in danger? Russian J-1 scholar and Harvard Researcher, Kseniia Petrova, who is a critic of our national enemy, Putin.
Thanks Will– these are very very disturbing – frightening times. I know you’ll keep fighting for all that we can do here to protect our democracy and due process rights.
Without a doubt everyone is entitled to due process — innocent or guilty! No one should ever be taken away without formal criminal charges and a right to defend themself in court. It’s unconstitutional.
Thank you Will for sharing your thoughts and your efforts!
Thank you so much, Senator. We need your principled voice and leadership more than ever.
Completely agree with your thoughts Will. You cannot have different standards for things you agree and things you don’t agree with. Due process is due process.
Thank you Senator for addressing this very serious issue. #WeROne in this nation. Thus, when one of us are hurt, we must ALL hurt!
Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech was directed toward foreign threats to American liberties. Today, tragically and sadly, the “Freedom from fear” cited in his address does not apply within the United States, and the threat comes from our own government. Thanks, Will, for speaking up.
Freedom from fear? I’ve lived about as many years before 9/11 as I have after it and I can say to this day the the assault from that quarter has us acting in fear and being silent out of fear. We’ll never see a Ken Burns documentary about the life of one particular orphan boy from a second tier trading family who was married to the a widow of the dominant trading clan only to find they still lacked an ingredient for hegemony. Sure, free speech exists as long as we steer clear of parts of comparative religion in mainstream media.
Thank you for affirming the importance of due process for everyone. I’m especially concerned by ICE conducting operations in masks, unmarked cars, and generally refusing to show badges. If they are federal law enforcement, they should be required to identify themselves as such through uniforms and badges. Is there anything MA legislators can do to insist on this? How are people to know ICE enforcers are who they say they are and not criminals, human traffickers, or even domestic abusers?
Thank you Will for your dedication to all the legal issues you work so hard for. Seriously question what is going on and what is happening to our country under the current leadership, including the lack of respect for our Constitution. Since when is this okay!! What happened to her was extremely frightening as many have stated. Masked individuals just approaching and snatching someone off the street like this and not identifying themselves and taking someone away. Where is the due process? Where is our so called ‘Congress’!! Thank you again!
Thanks Will for bringing this up. It is appalling how it was done. It looked like a kidnapping!! Not good when law enforcement acts like this as the public won’t know how to respond if they don’t wear ICE logos and a member of the public may react and think it’s a kidnapping and a further issue could occur. Not the right thing to do as it was done and a very bad practice to start . The public should not have to live in fear.
I add my thanks for your principled response to this outrage. We should all feel outraged! And we must all speak out! Because if things like this are allowed to stand, none of us is safe. No one. The poem by Pastor Neimoller is never more relevant than now.
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the . . . ”
Fill in the blanks.
First they came for the immigrants, and I did not speak out because I was not an immigrant.
Then they came for the transgender individuals, and I did not speak out because I was not a transgender individual.
Then they came for the Muslims, and I did not speak out because I was not a Muslim.
Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.
After Martin Niemoller.
Thank you Senator for highlighting the case of Rumesya Ozturk. The video of her being taken into custody by masked ICE agents in Somerville left me speechless. This gestapo-like arrest scene was terrifying to watch. I’ve read that she is now in detention in Louisiana and is being represented by legal counsel and the ACLU. If you know, please share any thoughts about what ordinary citizens can do to support her case, such as contributions to a legal defense fund.
Agreed! I am also struggling to know what I can do as an individual to fight against this and many other anti-democratic actions by the federal government right now. Any suggestions on what individual citizens can do would be very appreciated.
Thanks as always, Will, for your help and your words. What is happening to so much of our country is at best demoralizing, and at worst terrifying, especially for the beloved, hardworking immigrants of our communities. But we will not despair nor cower in fear; but rather, fight harder than ever to counteract this destruction.
What about the unmarked, big, black SUVs that idle in the Brighton parking lot by Staples? They make me very nervous. Have you noticed? They are all over the place. When will the government decide to disappear me? Who will notice? Who will stop them? First our students, then the retirees? Some people can move elsewhere to work and I will uphold their right to do so, but as a 71-year-old volunteer ESL teacher? I guess I’ll stay and be courageous… and loud… and continue to protest.
Thank you, Will.
Thanks for this resounding statement & for your continued support of the Safe Communities Act! I attended one of the hearings for that bill back in 2017, and heard many compelling arguments for the bill, while opponents offered only fear-mongering and misinformation. This bill, or one like it, is all the more necessary now.
Thank you Will. This event prompted me to dig out letters written by my father in 1940 in England when he was a 21 year old refugee about the arrest of my grandfather by the Gestapo in Germany in 1935 because he – a lawyer – had joined the defense team of an opponent of the Nazis. Who was never brought to trial and was eventually murdered in Buchenwald in 1944.The similarities are obvious between the actions and behavior of these Federal agents and the Stormtroopers of the Nazi party’s para-military arm the SturmAbteilung, or Mussolini’s BlackShirts in Italy, although I do not know how the detention center in Louisiana she was immediately sent to (next stop Nicaragua or El Salvador?) stacks up against the camps the Nazis used ( I have inherited a copy dating from 1934 of the rules and regulations applied to those detained by the Nazis). Is this just the first or an early stage of what we can expect increasingly frequently and brutally in the atmosphere of fear that is spreading thoughout the country, encompassing even groups you would think are immune and capable of defending themselves, but in a disturbing number of cases are choosing to capitulate to threats (Columbia University, the law firm of Paul Weiss etc.). Do we the People and our institutions (it is hard to have much confidence in them, even excluding the Republicans in Congress who seem to have missed the point or forgotten, or chosen to ignore their duties and responsibilities under the Constitution and their oaths of office) have enough reserves of courage to resist and reverse our descent from a Republic into an imperial system of governance, similar to the fascism of the 1930s where loyalty to one person (the Fuehrer Prinzip) is all that matters. The demise of the Roman Republic is a much earlier example, described by Tacitus, of this process in which all the functions and power in a society are taken over by a dictator or emperor, or in modern deceptively respectable American English a “unitary executive.” Never is so much being taken away from so many by so few.
Thank you for these deep and insightful comments. Is it all right with you if I share them?
Parallels are not analogues.
But right now, we ARE that “scene from another country.” To not realize that we have little time to save this democracy is both frightening and motivating. The courts cannot hold up forever.
Thank you, Will. Your statement is spot on. Apart from the principles and the legal violations involved, I can’t even begin to imagine how terrified and traumatized that poor young woman must be. Watertown has a large immigrant population. Many of my neighbors and friends are naturalized citizens, but because they might look a little different and speak with an accent, they now have to be very careful where they go and when, lest they be “mistakenly” picked up and detained. To think that the USA was, not so long ago, the beacon of democracy.
So grateful for your thoughtful approach to ensuring that our state isn’t coopted by cruel federal decisions about our neighbors. Here’s to the rule of law and to integrity in our court system.
Thank you Senator for speaking out. That video was horrifying. The First Amendment is written in such clear language even Trump should be able to understand it. We all must fight back in whatever way we can.
I totally agree
This is a link to the Tufts Daily article published on 26 Mar 2024: https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj
Some points to make:
– The article never mentions Hamas by name
– The byline includes 3 additional names: Fatima Rahman, Genesis Perez and Nicholas Ambeliotis
– The central demand of the article is for university administration to divest from controversial stock holdings, back off from previous statements, and to acknowledge the word “genocide” as it applies to death and starvation among a civilian population.
All of the above is protected by the First Amendment, which applies to all persons on US soil not just those favored by the government or whose visa status could be called into question. Unless events transpired later (that have yet to be made public), Ms. Ozturk has not been party to any obstruction to academic life on the Tufts campus or even called for support to any terrorist organization as defined by federal policy. The article cites international norms as the foundation for its assertion that civilians must be protected. That our government would bypass legal due process for such an innocuous public statement is distressing, and is evidence that our country is hurtling toward totalitarianism wherein all public policies and judicial decisions are concentrated in the hands of a single individual.
Thank you Will, and all who are speaking out about this horrible act. I am especially disturbed that these people wore masks, did not show badges or ID of any kind, etc. They purposely made it look like a kidnapping so that others would likely be afraid to intervene.
Thank you, Will. Well said and I 100% agree. The rule of law and due process are key. What can we, your constituents due to help the legislative process along with these two bills?
Thank you. This arrest was horrifying. If agents of the government are allowed to arrest people for peacefully exercising their right to free speech because the President has decided that only some speech is acceptable, we are living in a grim moment. I am glad to see you speaking out.
I agree with everything you say, but also it is appalling that people sucked into ICE detention have no way of getting out. This article points out that the prisons are privately owned, and making buckets of money from the situation. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney
Thanks for speaking up Will. It is crystal clear that there is a multi-pronged campaign of intimidation going on in government, higher ed, the media, the legal establishment, and the liberal groups in the non-profit sector. People familiar with the Nazi brown shirts will know where this leads. I agree with those who say that all this is aimed at the next federal election.
Hi Jon,
I believe that Will and most of his constituents care about civil rights/liberties ONLY when the victim is someone or something the Left/Democrats identify with.
In other words, it’s simply a partisan thing – Dem vs. GOP or Liberal vs. Conservative or LGBTQ vs. non-LGBTQ – NOT a principled thing.
Another example:
“Occupy Wall Street” where people sat down in Boston for days was tolerated. Because the Dems and Mayor Menino were fine with it.
Had right-wingers done similarly, they’d be arrested and prosecuted very fast.
It’s very partisan in most cases.
And the people who post where are partisan Dems so Will posts stuff and his groupies love it.
See more examples below in my post.
Dee: Make up lies to justify your own biases. That does not make any of your assertions true. You are re-writing history if you claim that anti-war demonstrators civil rights activists on the left were not prosecuted and imprisoned, even non-violent ones, and often on the flimsiest of grounds. Meanwhile it took the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan 6 to motivate law enforcement to go after the right and the convicted rioters received blanket pardons on Jan 20. They killed people and attempted to lynch their own vice president because he followed his constitutional duties. The Occupy protesters didn’t kill or maim anyone; they just caused inconvenience.
If your views are truly representative of the Republican Party, that party has repudiated the Constitution and 250 years of American history and American progress and is fundamentally unamerican, even treasonous to the extent that as elected officials many have violated their oaths to uphold the Constitution.
I think many if not most of them have been mislead and their biases pandered to by a small minority of authoritarians, especially billionaire-owned right wing media, and the consequences are not what they expected. However, the current regime will do an incredible amount of damage to our country by the time we know for sure next year after the mid-term elections.
The hearts who were lifted by the 10/ 7 Hamas led massacre, which synergistic and coordinated campus rage had targeted victims in our Jewish student population.
That is to say, The hearts who were lifted by the 10/ 7 Hamas led massacre, moves in a synergistic and coordinated fashion to launch the nationwide crisis of campus rage which had specifically targeted our Jewish student population.
I found the words from the Democratic establishment, from the President to the Belmont Superintendent post 10/7 almost to the man to be transparently pro-forma to the point where I felt the words could be read to patronizingly say Israel had it coming. The Belmont Superintendent of schools balked at moral leadership such that she could not even name the “events of last weekend” lest she stigmatize, or educate some student who might “feel bad” that a monstrous act of terror came from a quarter they identified with and the Sanders Democratic Socialists and other know-nothing progressives Dems were trying to co-opt-. You want to identify the precipitating failure of leadership that woke people up to the corruption of the Party and the unity with the mainstream media look no further.
Yes, it’s messed up that someone was seemingly “abducted” for her speech and the Administration is going too far and os not giving a wide enough berth to loathsome speech, and may be conflating speech with campus agitation, which furthers Hamas’s et al.’s aims but one also expects our guests to not stick their thumbs in our eyes and keep their noses clean.
Thank you, Will. Please keep doing all you can at the state level to protect the freedom of everyone in Massachusetts.
I join the many voices here in appreciating your clarity on this critical issue. As many Town Hall voices have said, the time to resist is now!
Margaret Witham
Thank you, Senator, for speaking out.
I am wondering why ex-presidents and other democratic leaders around the US are not doing the same? Why are universities bowing to this man and his administration and watch them in silence destroy the country and violate the US Constitution.
Hi, Senator,
Thank you very much for your statement and support. This is terrifying and horrific. I spent 4 years in Siberia, Russia, and witnessed this kind of sudden, shocking police action (happily not related to me). It chills.
I feel we are in a different communications space with the Trumpian Media BlastCasts. I know you and our other representatives are busy actually working (not just posting, broadcasting, and noizemaking)! However, I do wonder if we (you, our representatives) need to find ways to be much more visible — on radio, TV, news, opinion programs, morning, evening, weekends — because this is what we are buried in by The Narcissist State Reps.
It is a different world of media, and the Republicans, at least nationally, are dominating with their noize. Not sure if / how I can help, but I do feel that we (Democrats, sane resistance) need to find better, bigger messaging.
Appreciate your consideration — not sure, but sharing thoughts.
Thank you, and your team, for all you are doing!!
(P.S. never sure what to put in for website, as I do not have one, so I put the site with your post onto which I comment ;))
Yes.
Hopefully we will soon learn more details about why this woman was arrested.
But the problem with you, Will, and a lot of your constituents is seeing civil liberties through a very narrow left-wing, Democratic Party lens.
You don’t understand and don’t care that your ilk constantly arrests, brutalizes, and puts on trial innocent people.
SEE BELOW.
Maybe you should try reading something other than the Boston Globe, New York Time, and The Nation. Maybe watch something other than MSNBC too.
1. Acquitted pro-life activist Mark Houck reveals details of ‘reckless’ FBI raid; will press charges:
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253523/acquitted-pro-life-activist-mark-houck-reveals-details-of-fbi-raid-will-press-charges
2. Seattle Pastor Arrested for Reading Bible Vindicated in Court:
https://firstliberty.org/news/seattle-pastor-arrested-vindicated/
3. Maine legislature censures Rep. Laurel Libby for pointing out trans athlete who won girls’ competition
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/maine-legislature-censures-rep-who-spoke-out-against-trans-athletes-girls-sports-amid-trump-threats
I do not agree with Rumesya’s policy views to the extent I understand them. That is not what is motivating my concern. It is the lack of due process.
While you may be right that in some cases, people have been subjected to persecution for conservative views, none of the examples you cite parallel this case: a street abduction without any court process of someone minding their own business on the basis of a past statement.
Thank you Will. The threat to our country is terrifying.
Thank you, Will, for supporting justice through the rule of law. Ozturk needs to be released so she can continue her education.
Thanks, Senator Brownsberger, for a clear and heartfelt statement. I could say I don’t recognize our country anymore, but this level of state-sanctioned violence and bigotry was thoroughly spelled out by the Heritage Foundation. We need a progressive plan to fight back against the right’s campaign to consolidate the power of the oligarchs, at the local level, state, and national levels.
Thank you Will. You are helping constituents by publicizing thoughts and ideas like this. I feel like we’re part of something hopeful even when we go through stuff.
Agree completely with the general consensus as articulated above. May I ask: what exactly did supporters of the previous administration in Washington D.C. do, say, or write in regard to ongoing creeping infringements of the Bill of Rights during those inter-Trump years? What did Maddow, Morning Joe, CNN, and the rest do to oppose social media censorship? Or to defend people who were fired from their job/barred from their campus/smeared and slandered in the media…for what? For merely expressing ideas that contradicted what the rich and powerful wanted to hear. Seems to me the Democrats were perfectly happy to see that kind of injustice done when they ruled the roost. And even to egg it on and celebrate it. Trump saw that. And took note of it. And waited. And prepared to do them one better. I agree with most of the commenters here that the present administration cares not a bit about any of us, as citizens or just as human beings. I see it as a den of vipers and evildoers. And I view their immediate predecessors as, in all too many cases, contemptible exemplars of moral cowardice. I very much hope that they will now grow a spine and, at long last, start doing the right thing by we, the people.
Thank you Will for your strong and principled statement. What we are experiencing in our country is absolutely terrifying. I so appreciate your voice and work on this issue.
Thanks, Will. Somehow, somebody is getting this..
And since when was criticism of ANOTHER COUNTRY’s policies grounds for expulsion from this one???
Since when? Since that country bought most of our politicians and intimidated the rest. Note: ranking very high on my list of heroes are the young people who are accorded automatic citizenship in that country, yet have the courage openly and publicly to organize in opposition to its despicable policies. That takes a solid moral compass, real integrity, and an uncommon level of resistance to mindless indoctrination by powerful demagogues. Those young people are heroes and will be remembered forever in that light. Their parents did something right! (Yes, even the ones who now threaten to disown them. Think about it, my young friends.)
Thanks for supporting free speech for everyone in America.
Thank you for writing this. Please let us know what we can do to support this legislation. I hope that it can move forward quicker than the end of the legislative session given the acute need in our communities. Like other commenters I am also concerned by the way in which this disappearance was conducted, particularly the use of masks and an unmarked vehicle and spiriting her out of the state before the local judiciary could respond. I have been wanting to ask you if there is anything we can do at a state level to impact the way that these raids are conducted here. Can we say no to any specific tactics used? Can we have requirements for identification, uniform, etc.? Thank you again so much for writing this and working on this legislation.
Thank you, Senator Brownsberger, for protecting free speech for everyone in Massachusetts and ensuring that they are given legal due process.
Thank you Will. We really need to hear this from our democratic leadership.
Thank you, Will, and thanks to all those who support due process, protection of individual nights, and the rule of law. Everyone needs to speak up, speak out, and stand up now against the continuing erosion of our democracy.
Thank you, Sen. Brownsberger, for your thoughts. I fully agree that we should be a nation ruled by laws. I found your comments insightful about separating the roles of local law enforcement from immigration enforcement, especially the ramifications of not separating the roles. You have caused me to reconsider my opinion of the Safe Communities Act and similar legislation. At first, such laws seemed to cherry pick which laws “rule our land” and which can be ignored. But that raises the question, how do we choose which laws govern our land and which ones don’t apply?
To those who don’t dig into the details, as I had not, it appears duplicitous to assert that we are a nation ruled by laws and then make new laws that seem to protect people who are flagrantly disregarding existing laws. I see now that you have principles in place and are not simply cherry picking. I am concerned that other supporters of such laws do not have such principles, and they will simply be emboldened to obey some laws and ignore others.
If the Safe Communities Act is able to improve the relationship of local law enforcement with the people they are there to protect by enforcing local laws, without hindering federal law enforcement from protecting citizens by enforcing federal laws, then it might garner my support. However, I fear that the two are mutually exclusive and such a law would send the message that MA is governed by the laws we like and ignores the ones we don’t.
To everyone else reading this, please be sure that in your attempt to show compassion to everyone regardless of immigration status, you don’t inadvertently subvert the rule of law. The men who threw tea into the harbor knew they were doing something illegal, and they were willing to suffer the consequences of their illegal act. If we are truly a land governed by laws–all of them–when someone willfully and deliberately does something illegal they need to be willing to suffer the consequences, and we need to be willing to let them. If we try to intervene by saying, “But these are my friends who align with my ideology, therefore the law shouldn’t apply to them” how is that any different than pardoning people who deliberately broke the law on Jan 6th because they align ideologically?
ALL the laws need to apply to EVERYONE. Ensuring the appropriate people are enforcing the various laws will hopefully lead to more compassionate enforcement and greater protection for everyone.
A well thought-out comment. I like it. With your permission I would add, paraphrasing and embellishing a widely celebrated quotation from long ago: “How glorious and exemplary our legal system is! How utterly democratic! How humane! When honestly administered it impartially forbids both Elon Musk and my impoverished self to sleep on a flattened cardboard carton in the alley behind the liquor store! All we need to do is insist upon the consistent uniform enforcement of every law on the books. The result will, without fail, render justice for all. Amen!” Or, as a contemporary cracker-barrel philosopher puts it: “We have the best government that money can buy.” What more could anyone reasonably ask for? Anyhow, thanks for taking the time and trouble to join this thread. Also thanks to everyone else. Will’s idea to let his website serve as a public forum is beyond praise in these trying times.
ps: I enjoy reading through the constituentss’ responses even when I disagree …quite strongly… with some of Will’s positions. Usually I can understand where he’s coming from. I’m sure he understands where I’m coming from.
Local politics are our last defense against the criminals running our federal government. Keep up the good work Will!
Will, thanks for your statement, your leadership on this and many other issues, and for this forum where we can express our feelings and opinions. We are indeed living in troubled times. I’m reminded of a quote by Ben Franklin: When asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had created, he responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” He highlighted the fragility of our democracy and the need for constant effort to maintain it. Words to live by, especially now.
Thank you Will. I’m thankful that we have folks like you in office. I am more and more coming to the view that we the people must bring down this corrupt fascist regime.
A constitutional crisis is when your neighbor is led away by blackshirts in the night. Fascism is when you are led away.
Justice is when the surviving facists later all whine in unison: “But, Your Honor….we were only following orders!”
Thank you, Will. We need to maintain public attention to these events.
In your position as one of the senior members of the state senate, what steps are you taking to accelerate passage of the Safe Communities Act, other than to “hope we can find our way to a consensus response”? It is unacceptable that the Safe Communities Act has been filed in “several sessions” without being passed into law.
It’s a legitimately controversial issue. Not all legislators support it and have actively opposed it. It is not just about inertia.
There are many stages of the law enforcement process and at each stage there are many different kinds and possible degrees of collaboration between local, state, and federal authorities.
Given that complexity, I do believe that there is a compromise space where we could get a bill passed. I am actively hopeful that we can find that space — it’s a conversation with an uncertain outcome.
I think recent events will make it easier to get done. It has not always been the top priority of immigration advocates — the higher priority was access to driver’s licensing.
The good news is that most major city police chiefs in Massachusetts know that they can do their primary job better if they stay out of immigration enforcement, so the practical impact of the legislation might be less than one would assume.
Harm-mitigation only shifts a cost elsewhere. We can’t be blind to the social harm and corrosion done when we choose to “reduce harm” to correct for the behaviors of a selected set of people we distribute and normalize pathological attitudes across society.
Too many people dance with joy when this sort of thing happens. They’d probably invoke God’s name in doing it, too.
I’ll be glad to no longer be a part of this “humanity”.