Great Barrington — On Friday, October 17, State Rep. Leigh Davis (D – 3rd Berkshire District) hosted a community conversation event at Robbie’s Community Market, where she discussed the issues currently facing the state and the nation.
It has been nearly a year since Davis was elected to her seat, and in January, a few weeks after she was sworn in at the State House, President Donald J. Trump took office for his second nonconsecutive term.
Before the community conversation, Davis spoke to The Berkshire Edge about these issues facing Massachusetts and the nation, including the ongoing federal government shutdown. As of press time on Thursday, October 23, the shutdown was in its 23rd day, the second longest in American history. The record-holding shutdown occurred during President Trump’s first term, lasting 35 days from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019.
“To say that this is a period of uncertainty is understated,” Davis told The Berkshire Edge. “I think there’s a lot of trepidation and some anger and confusion on really where the impacts [from the shutdown] will be felt the most. As a legislator, I need to do as much as I can for the district I am representing but also support my colleagues and federal partners.”
Davis said that the effects of the shutdown are “trickling down” to residents in Massachusetts. “What I can do by having these conversation events is try to pull the wagons around and find out ways how we can help ourselves,” she said. “If our federal partners are no longer going to be with us, we have to find ways to make sure our community is strong and stable. I’m trying my best to be responsive and do all I can with the role I’ve been given to make sure that, at least locally, we are taken care of. This includes talking regularly to select board members in all of the towns and to check in with constituents regularly, just to make sure that everyone feels like they are being heard.”
Davis emphasized that “there are a lot of moving pieces” when it comes to operating with the current federal government. “Trying to get ahead of all of those moving pieces is never going to happen,” she said. “We need to react and plan as best as we can. When it comes to the state, for example, when we put together our budget for fiscal 2026, we built in an $860 million cushion with the expectation that there would be some federal funding cutbacks. Even with that cushion, we are starting to see that we are going to be behind the curve.”
As for affordable and workforce housing, Davis said she will be co-hosting a roundtable discussion with Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus in Great Barrington in November. The event will include community stakeholders to discuss challenges in the housing sector, she said.
“We need to ensure that our communities are strong and that we continue to have a workforce,” Davis said. “The roundtable will include a mix of developers and people in the business sector. What I’m trying to do is bring solutions that might seem to be out of the box to multiple challenges. One of the biggest challenges I’ve heard from developers, time and time again, is dealing with construction costs. We have developers who want to build and want to do the right thing, but when they look at the numbers for construction costs, to them it just doesn’t add up.”
On the subject of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) presence in Berkshire County, Davis said that it comes down to “what we can do as a community to protect our most vulnerable.”
Davis said she attended a briefing on the subject with members of the Attorney General’s Office and other community organizations in early October. “We want to try to be as reactive as we can in terms of making sure that there is due process [for those detained by ICE], that they have attorneys, and that we know where ICE is taking them,” she said. “The greatest fear right now is that, since ICE moves so quickly, as soon as someone is taken into custody, the worst fear is that they will be moved out of state. This happens at such a fast speed that many times we don’t know where [someone arrested by ICE] is, and before we know it, that person is moved out of state. However, Massachusetts has more protections for those taken into ICE custody than other states. It’s critical that we can keep these people in the state close to their families and with access to legal counsel.”
During the community conversation event, Davis addressed the anxiety caused by ICE raids in towns and cities in the Commonwealth and throughout the nation.
Davis recalled Great Barrington adopting a “sanctuary city” policy back at the 2017 Annual Town Meeting. The policy designated the town as a “safe and inclusive community” that will not enforce federal immigration law or “aid in the detention, transfer, transport or deportation of residents for civil immigration purposes.”
“That almost puts a mark on us [with the Trump administration],” Davis said. “I’m convinced that one of the reasons that you saw Great Barrington get hit very early with ICE [agents] is because we were very proactive early on in protecting our immigrant population.”
Davis was referencing the numerous ICE raids that have taken place in Berkshire County since President Trump took office.
“We have to be careful in helping people who are feeling vulnerable, along with families that don’t feel comfortable sending their kids to school, going to People’s Pantry, or even being on the street,” Davis told the audience. “My message to you is that, if you are really concerned, keep in touch with your neighbors and with those who are vulnerable. Make sure you check on them to make sure that if they do not feel comfortable going out, going to the doctors, or going to school, that you have plugged them into one of the wonderful community groups that are facilitating help for the immigrant population.”
