AMHERST — Amherst officials could soon call on the Massachusetts attorney general and district attorneys to investigate and prosecute federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who violate state law.
“This resolution is meant to protect Amherst residents, to urge state officials to protect all Massachusetts residents and to send a clear message that we are a town that stands up for the Constitution and the rule of law,” said resident Jeff Conant, a community member who helped draft the document.
Titled “calling for federal immigration agents to be held accountable for violations of Massachusetts criminal law,” the resolution is expected to come before the Town Council on Monday, Feb. 23.
Conant said petitioners have engaged in a participatory process that represents a cross section of the community, with people worried about the terror of federal immigration enforcement actions disrupting schools, kidnapping residents and disempowering public servants.
The concern is also the cruelty and degradation that will cause people to give up on democracy, he said. “ICE is not about immigrants solely,” Conant said.
The Governance, Organization and Legislation gave a favorable recommendation at its Feb. 10 meeting, with the text of the resolution having clarity, consistency and actionability, meaning it can go to the full council for a vote.
The resolution references impacts on Massachusetts, such as March 2025 the detainment of Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, after co-authoring an opinion piece critical of U.S. government conduct and in support of Palestinian human rights. The resolution also cites the targeting of Latino and immigrant communities in Massachusetts, such as an 18-year-old in Worcester County who was reportedly taken into custody with no warrant and was held for a week with no access to showers or sufficient food, and repeated use of excessive force in encounters with Massachusetts residents.
District 2 Councilor Amber Cano-Martin, who is one of the council sponsors, said ICE’s lawlessness and breaking rules has gone so far as to kill American civilians documenting what they are doing, alluding to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Prettin in Minneapolis.
“Having pressure come up to the state government from the town level, that not only do we want to keep them out of our communities, but we want to prosecute them when they break the law,” Cano-Martin said.
Cano-Martin said the hope is more cities and towns will pass resolutions to put more pressure on state officials.
The resolution is to go to Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Gov. Maura Healey, Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan and Amherst Police Chief Gabriel Ting.
Local police would also have a role, according to the resolution, in how evidence is preserved, especially in cases of federal noncooperation with investigations, and
beginning investigations where evidence indicates that a crime has been committed.
Amherst attorney John Bonifaz, also a community sponsor the resolution, said Campbell and district attorneys need to carry out their sworn duty to enforce state criminal laws against ICE agents.
“It urges them to open criminal investigations into any unlawful actions that may have occurred in the commonwealth of Massachusetts and then, where appropriate, to engage in any prosecutions of crimes that may have occurred,” said Bonifaz, founder of the nonprofit organization Free Speech For People.
Another element of the resolution is to demand that Healey cease any cooperation agreements with ICE, including a pending agreement with the Department of Corrections.
Healey recently filed legislation to keep ICE out of courthouses, schools, child care programs, hospitals and churches and signed an executive order prohibiting the state from entering into any new so-called 287(g) agreements, unless there is a public safety need, prohibiting ICE from making civil arrests in non-public areas of state facilities and prohibiting the use of state property for immigration enforcement staging.