Gov. Josh Green joined several state legislators on Tuesday to call for measures to limit the power of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Green, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, House Speaker Nadine Nakamura and several other lawmakers attended a vigil Tuesday commemorating Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.
During the vigil — hosted by the ACLU of Hawai‘i, the Legal Clinic of Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights — Green said ICE’s actions have eroded public trust in the rule of law, and that those responsible for Pretti’s death must be held accountable.
“We’ve all seen the videos, anyone can see that ICE was wrong,” Green said. “It’s absurd to call [Pretti and other ICE victims] domestic terrorists.”
Green’s appearance at the vigil came only a day after saying that he has proposed alternate immigration enforcement policies to the federal government, such as offering a probationary period during which illegal immigrants could be exempt from ICE actions so long as they commit no violent crimes.
The governor did not mention specific policies at Tuesday’s vigil, but he finished his speech by promising that he will use “every tool at [his] disposal” to ensure that people’s rights remain protected in Hawai‘i.
Nor did Nakamura make specific policy proposals on Tuesday. However, she said she and other legislators will work this year to develop legislation that will “build in accountability,” guarantee due process for ICE detainees and limit potential overreaches by immigration enforcement.
Nakamura said changes in immigration policy might be “painful,” warning that growing calls to defund ICE and the Department of Homeland Security might well lead to another government shutdown.
Several lawmakers who attended Tuesday’s vigil — including reps. David Tarnas, Mattias Kusch and Terez Amato, and senators Jarret Keohokalole and Joy San Buenaventura — also co-introduced a raft of immigration-related bills on Monday.
Those measures included:
- House Bill 1768 and Senate Bill 2059, which prohibit law enforcement agencies from entering into an agreement with ICE to carry out immigration enforcement on ICE’s behalf. The more detailed House measure also prohibits law enforcement officers from inquiring about a person’s immigration status or to allow federal immigration officers to interview people in custody, among other things.
- Similarly, Senate Bill 2057 prohibits state funds or personnel to be used “to assist or facilitate conduct by federal agents” beyond the purview of state law enforcement including immigration enforcement.
- House Bill 1839 and Senate Bill 2874 would require Hawai‘i law enforcement agencies to inform people in custody of their rights before any interview with ICE, and would designate all records relating to such an interview as public records.
- House Bill 2129 and Senate Bill 2179 both set requirements for law enforcement officers to be visually identifiable while on duty. Officers would be prohibited from wearing masks on the job, save for documented medical reasons or undercover operations. The House bill also would limit information sharing between state and county agencies and ICE, and would require all state and county agencies to adopt policies prohibiting immigration-based harassment or threats.
All of those measures have been referred to their chamber’s respective judiciary committees. Both chairs of those committees — Tarnas and Rep. Karl Rhoads — attended Tuesday’s vigil.
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