The Easthampton City Council passed a resolution on Wednesday calling for Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and the Northwestern district attorney to investigate and charge federal ICE agents when they break state law.
The Council's resolution comes just days after ICE agents shot and killed a Colombian driver in Maine on Monday and a week after an agent shot and killed a motorist in Houston.
Kiam Jamrog-McQuaid is an Easthampton city councilor. He said work for this resolution started a few months ago when Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE officers in Minnesota.
"There is something to be said about the fact that a lot of this enforcement…the point is cruelty, the point is to make a spectacle and to scare people,” Jamrog-McQuaid said. “And I think if we can stand up as a community and let people know in Easthampton that they are not alone, that they have allies, that they are our neighbors and that we're standing up for them in every way that we can. I think that there's some power in that."
Easthampton's resolution said the city’s mayor will support investigations into federal agents who are suspected of breaking state or local laws. The resolution also cites the arrest of four individuals from Easthampton by ICE agents in September. It asks prosecutors to have local law enforcement to preserve evidence in incidents with federal agents.
“What really this resolution brings to the table that's new is calling out some of the specific language that's being used by the Trump administration and by the federal government around immunity from prosecution for some of these heinous actions and murders and kidnappings that we're seeing and pushing back against that,” Jamrog-McQuaid said.
Northampton and Amherst city councils have passed similar resolutions.
