From Indivisible Falmouth:

Yesterday's No Kings in Falmouth was a rousing success!! Big thanks to those who were there! We'll have more to say later this week.

But here's an urgent action we hope you will take. Sherriff Donna Buckley spoke on the Green yesterday about the PROTECT act that is moving through the Massachusetts legislative process. Sheriff Buckley and one of our volunteers crafted the letter below that we hope you will paste into an email and to send out to Senator Fernandes or Cyr. The deadline for public comment is tomorrow so it's urgent! (DOC is Department of Corrections.)

Please paste the text below into an email, add your name and address, edit as you see fit, and send to Senator Cyr or Fernandes, whichever is your senator. (If you don't know it's fine to send to both!)

Dylan.fernandes@masenate.gov

Julian.cyr@masenate.gov.

Cc Mike.connolly@mahouse.gov.

Dear Senator________

As the PROTECT Act has passed through the Massachusetts House and moves to the Senate, we are looking to the Senate to make sure several key points are addressed in the final version of the bill.

There should not be provisions for ANY 287g agreements, including possible renewal of the present agreement with the DOC or allowing any new 287g agreements. Why are we using Massachusetts jails like Plymouth, to house innocent people? Is the money Massachusetts receives worth it? DOC should not be supporting the work of ICE at any price.

Furthermore, the majority of ICE arrests in Massachusetts are families, including children whose only crime is being undocumented. They are primarily targeted due to the color of their skin, or the language they speak. They are not criminals, and should not be detained.

A requirement for warrants signed by a judge must be included in this legislation.

We must include a provision requiring that ICE agents identify themselves and not wear face masks. The excuse that they wear masks to protect themselves has been disproven, given that ICE agents deployed to airports, supposedly to support TSA agents, don't wear masks.

I stand out most weekends to protest the actions of ICE. We can't normalize this behavior!

Please make sure these concerns are addressed in the final bill. We expect more from our Massachusetts legislators.

Sincerely,

________________________________

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