Great Barrington — A discussion of possible revisions to the town’s Trust Policy is scheduled for the next Selectboard meeting on Monday, February 9, at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Great Barrington Firehouse at 37 State Road and online via Zoom.
According to the agenda of the upcoming meeting, the discussion will involve Multicultural BRIDGE CEO Gwendolyn VanSant and Interim Police Chief Adam Carlotto.
The Trust Policy was first adopted by voters at the May 2017 Town Meeting during President Donald J. Trump’s first term in office, addressing federal enforcement and actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its agents.
“The Trust Policy of 2017 was started in response to ICE and the ideas of sanctuary communities across the country,” VanSant told The Berkshire Edge in a previous interview. “BRIDGE and our community partners all worked really hard to come up with a policy that was the right size for Great Barrington. In our rural community right now, with ICE and Trump’s legislation making people feel unsafe, we really feel like it’s the right time to revisit the Trust Policy.”
At a community conversation at Multicultural BRIDGE’s Solidarity House on January 20, Carlotto, VanSant, and residents discussed potential revisions to the Trust Policy. “We want to address what we do when ICE comes to our community,” said VanSant. “What are the other threats out there to our safety besides ICE? How do we balance not obstructing justice while keeping our community safe? How do we partner with the Police Department for accountability, transparency, and mutual partnerships? Those are the main questions we need to answer for the new version of the Trust Policy because it needs to be updated, refined, and relevant to what is going on right now.”
Interim Police Chief Carlotto told residents at the January 20 meeting that the original Trust Policy helped to clarify the role of the Police Department regarding ICE’s enforcement policies and procedures. “Previously, there was [confusion] if [the department] was going to be part of these ICE raids and immigration [enforcement],” he said. “Because of the policy, the message got out there that the local police force does not do this. We are local law enforcement and community caretakers. The message [through the policy] came out very clear that we are not doing federal immigration enforcement.”
The current Trust Policy, as passed at Town Meeting in May 2017, can be found here.
Meanwhile, at the NAACP Berkshire County Branch’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 4, State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D – 2nd Berkshire District) spoke about the PROTECT Act—short for Promoting Rule of law, Oversight, Trust, and Equal Constitutional Treatment—legislation that was filed at the State House in late January by State Reps. Andres Vargas (D – 3rd Essex District) and Judith Garcia (D – 11th Suffolk District). Vargas is the chair of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Caucus.
As listed on the state legislature’s website, the bill aims to “further regulate state and local participation in federal civil immigration enforcement.”
As proposed, if passed by the legislature, the bill would amend multiple state laws concerning standards on civil immigration enforcement and due process.
If passed, the bill would:
- Prevent ICE agents from arresting people at state courthouses.
- Ban local police departments from taking part in ICE’s 287(G) Program. According to ICE’s website, the 287(g) Program is part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and authorizes ICE “to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight.”
- Enhance the rights of detainees in detention facilities by ensuring their rights to confidential, unmonitored attorney-client telephone communications and their access to interpreters.
- Mandate that any detention facility operated by ICE “shall maintain a secure electronic locator system identifying individuals detained under federal civil immigration authority. The locator shall not be made publicly available. The locator shall be updated not later than six hours after intake into the facility and not later than six hours after any transfer into or out of the facility.”
The full bill can be found here.
Farley-Bouvier is listed as one of the co-sponsors of the bill, along with State Rep. Leigh Davis (D – 3rd Berkshire District), and John Barrett (D – 1st Berkshire District).
“The Black and Latino Legislative Caucus have been working really hard and strategically over months to come up with a package of protections that are real work, and not just making a statement,” Rep. Farley-Bouvier said at the February 4 NAACP Berkshire Branch meeting. “It’s a very good package. I’m just inviting people to pay attention to that and give as much support as you can for that legislation.”
NAACP Berkshires President Dennis Powell thanked Rep. Farley-Bouvier for speaking about the proposed legislation. “We know what we are all faced with, unfortunately,” Powell said. “Unfortunately, every morning I wake up wondering what’s next, and I have been disappointed because there’s always some inhumane act that is being presented to us. All we can do is stay strong together and resist.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to note that the Selectboard meeting has been moved to the firehouse at 37 State Road.
