{"id":17351,"date":"2018-07-17T14:22:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T18:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17351"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:14:34","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:14:34","slug":"open-borders-crowd-holds-massachusetts-budget-hostage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/07\/17\/open-borders-crowd-holds-massachusetts-budget-hostage\/","title":{"rendered":"Open-Borders Crowd Holds Massachusetts Budget Hostage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts is now the only state in the union<\/a> not to have passed a budget for the new fiscal year, which started July 1.\u00a0 And the main reason appears to be the die-hard commitment of a minority of state legislators to doing everything they possibly can for illegal aliens rather than their own constituents.<\/p>\n

For more than a year, stand-alone sanctuary legislation euphemistically called the \u201cSafe Communities Act\u201d\u2014Senate Bill (S.) 1305<\/a> and House Bill (H.) 3269<\/a>\u2014didn\u2019t really go anywhere.\u00a0 Despite Massachusetts being a liberal state, the bills were met with fierce resistance<\/a> by grass-roots activists, with FAIR\u2019s assistance.\u00a0 Statewide leadership mostly wanted to dodge the issue: House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) made it clear that he<\/a> and most of his fellow House Democrats felt other issues should take priority, while Republican Governor Charlie Baker said repeatedly<\/a> he thought<\/a> this should be a local matter<\/a> for individual cities and towns to decide on their own.<\/p>\n

Having failed to pass a sanctuary bill on its own, the open-borders crowd then changed tactics to playing games with the state budget.\u00a0 The House passed a budget bill without any sanctuary provisions on April 26<\/a>, but on May 23, the Senate passed a sanctuary amendment<\/a> by Senator James Eldridge (D-Acton) that would forbid state and local law enforcement from asking about anyone’s immigration status, cancel 287(g) agreements by any agency other than the Department of Corrections, and could easily be read as a blanket ban on practically any information-sharing or other cooperation with federal immigration authorities.\u00a0 Six Democrat Senators broke ranks<\/a> with their party to join all seven of the Senate’s Republicans in voting No.\u00a0 Governor Baker called the Senate amendment<\/a> \u201cridiculous and outrageous,\u201d and promised a line-item veto if it ever reaches his desk.<\/p>\n

On June 4, each chamber appointed<\/a> its Way & Means chair, vice-chair and ranking minority (i.e., Republican) member to a conference committee to work out a final budget agreement.\u00a0 But roughly six weeks later, the conference committee still hasn\u2019t been able to produce anything.<\/p>\n

On July 9, Speaker DeLeo proposed<\/a> passing a budget stripped of all non-financial policy language (so-called \u201criders\u201d or \u201coutside sections.\u201d)\u00a0 The two chambers\u2019 differences over these provisions are apparently the main holdup in reaching an agreement, and the Senate sanctuary amendment is by far the most prominent of them.\u00a0 The Speaker expressed frustration that \u201c[i]t’s getting later and later. It’s imperative that we do a budget immediately \u2026 if we take up the so-called money portion, which is what a budget is all about, take that up now, then we can always go back in the final weeks of session and talk about some of the policy matters as well.”<\/p>\n

Undeterred by the Speaker\u2019s comments, illegal-alien supporters responded on July 10 with yet another theatrically outraged Beacon Hill rally<\/a> to demand (even more of) a sanctuary state.\u00a0 Senate President Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) even seemed to be taking their side when she said she<\/a> \u201cpersonally feel[s]once we get started and get some movement I think we can probably get through more than just the revenue piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Budget negotiations remain in limbo, and Eldridge\u2019s sanctuary amendment is obviously the most glaring sticking point.\u00a0 DeLeo stated again on July 12 that he believed it would be<\/a> \u201cvery difficult\u201d to pass on the House floor and thus could put the entire budget in jeopardy.\u00a0 Yet the 54-member House Progressive Caucus has apparently written privately<\/a> to the budget conference committee insisting that it be kept in.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of dangerous criminal aliens already owe their freedom<\/a> to Massachusetts\u2019 current sanctuary policies, yet these politicians want even more?\u00a0 Most Massachusetts voters and officials of all political stripes almost certainly don\u2019t want everything else in the Commonwealth to be sacrificed on this one issue, but a vocal minority has ground the process to a total halt.\u00a0 The citizens of the Bay State need to tell their legislators to stop playing games and pass a budget for them, not for illegal aliens.