New chief opposes plan to stop immigrants
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | December 6, 2006

In one of his first official acts, Boston's new police commissioner declared yesterday that he would oppose any effort to enlist city officers in a Romney administration pact that allows the State Police to arrest immigrants who are in Massachusetts illegally.

While Governor Mitt Romney has said that allowing state troopers to detain people for immigration violations could make Massachusetts less welcoming for illegal immigrants, the commissioner, Edward F. Davis III, said he does not want such authority granted to his officers because it would hurt community policing.

"Expanding immigration enforcement to local police would have an overall negative effect on the department's continued efforts to enhance community trust," Davis said in a statement. "In a city as ethnically diverse as Boston, community engagement is a crucial element of effective policing. Enforcing immigration on a local level would compromise the relationships that police must create and maintain with all of the communities in which they serve."

In response, Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney, said, "We think it's important to enforce the law, even if that offends the people who are violating the law."

Ali Noorani , executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said Davis, who was sworn in Monday, had opposed such powers for local police in his previous job, as police superintendent in Lowell. He said Davis had told him that, "If the community doesn't trust us, nobody is safe."

"His entire thing is community policing, and this takes a dynamite stick to any kind of community policing effort," Noorani said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... mmigrants/