Remarks of Senate President Karen E. Spilka on Federal Immigration Actions

As prepared for delivery

Good morning. I rise today because I’m afraid we are entering a dark chapter of our nation’s history – and we, as the Massachusetts State Senate – must bear witness to what we are seeing and hearing, and use our voices to push back against those in power who would reject the rule of law and due process for all of us in this country.

Tomorrow, Donald Trump will have been in the office of the Presidency for just 100 days. But in such a short time, America is becoming unrecognizable. I, for one, cannot sit idly by as we hear story after story – day after day – of residents being grabbed off the streets – kidnapped – and held with no access to justice. Again, making America a place we hardly recognize.

And as someone who lost family members in the Holocaust, I do not say this lightly. But what we are experiencing in America today is starting to feel like Europe in the 1930s – and it is not just terrifying, it is enraging. This is not who we are – this is not the country that my family fled to, and my father fought for.

Many of you know my family’s story, but I believe it’s important to tell it again today in the context of what the Trump Administration is doing to target immigrants, and, if the President gets his way, to target citizens as well. My story begins with the story of a young man named Joseph in Russia – now Poland—in 1906. One day, he was protesting the oppressive policies of the Czar with his best friend, only to later discover the body of that dear friend hanging in the public square of his small village.

Joseph’s friend had been killed for his religious and political beliefs, and Joseph’s father knew his son would be next. So he said goodbye and sent his son to America to save his life. That young man, who left everything he knew and everyone he loved, was my grandfather, Joseph Goldstein. And I am reminded, now more than ever, that if my grandfather had not escaped – and if America hadn’t welcomed him with open arms – I would not be here today.

Many of you also know the story of my father, but I believe – that it is important to tell his story again in the context of what is happening in America today. As a soldier during World War II, my father helped liberate the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, and what he experienced there would haunt him for the rest of his life. Like so many veterans of that time, he suffered from undiagnosed mental illness – which would probably be diagnosed today as PTSD – in the years after returning home.

My entire family suffered because of my father’s illness, and he never got the opportunity to live out the rest of his years in peace, proud of his efforts to secure freedom around the world. So, hear me when I say this: as the granddaughter of an immigrant fleeing political persecution; a descendant of those who stayed in Europe and were subsequently murdered by Nazis; and the daughter who lost her beloved father to the horrors of the war even though he came back alive. I feel the danger of what is happening in America today deep in my bones.

And I’m sure many of you do too.

Like many of you, I have watched in horror as the Administration has kidnapped residents off our streets. Rümeysa Özturk, a 30-year-old Turkish citizen studying at Tufts University on an F-1 student visa was taken off the street by ICE agents while she was walking to dinner.

Juan Francisco Mendez had his car window violently smashed in New Bedford and he and his wife were dragged from the car by ICE agents before Juan was seized and detained. Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born Harvard-affiliated cancer researcher who lives in the United States legally, was detained at Logan Airport for a minor infraction and faces deportation back to Russia. And just this past weekend, WCVB news reported that masked ICE agents pulled over a van in Winthrop and took two people into custody.

All of these people are here for a reason – maybe a reason similar to what drove my grandfather from his homeland. And rather than being welcomed by a country that values freedom and the rule of law above all else, they are now at risk of being denied due process – an idea so foundational to who we are as a nation that John Adams himself defended British soldiers – our adversaries – after the Boston Massacre, which took place just down the street.

And an idea so critical to us a Commonwealth that it is enshrined both in the Massachusetts Constitution and the United States Constitution. I don’t need to tell you that this is not normal – and it can never be allowed to be normal in the United States of America. I think we can all agree that we don’t want violent criminals on our streets – and the law should deal with criminals, whether they are born in this country or come here from somewhere else.

But that is not what we are facing at this moment. What we are facing is a capricious, vengeful and cruel Administration that has co-opted federal law enforcement agents and openly defied the courts – the exact opposite of the law and order that Trump and his supporters have proclaimed to care about so much. And I for one will not stay silent as this country that I love, that my father fought for, is forcefully remade into the very type of unchecked authoritarian regime that he fought against.

We must stand up – and we must demand more from our elected representatives in Congress – to act as the check on unfettered Executive power the Constitution demands of them, and then to pass meaningful immigration reform once this moment of extreme danger has passed.

As a reminder to us all, Congress is meant to be the first among equals in the representative democracy envisioned by the constitution – not the President. Just as in our Constitution here in Massachusetts, the US Constitution sets out a system of checks and balances with separation of powers among our three branches of government.

As James Madison said in 1788 in Federalist Paper 47, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands – whether of one, a few, or many – and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

While Congress is handing over its power to Trump, the courts still largely stand independent, and so we must all use our voices to clearly object to the Trump Administration defying the courts – and insist that the president follow the rule of law.

The good news is that most Americans seem to be waking up to the idea that what is happening right now is fundamentally un-American. According to an NBC News poll released yesterday, 8 in 10 say legal due process for immigrants is “somewhat” or “very” important. Other polls released this past weekend show that the majority of Americans disagree with the Trump Administration’s handling of immigration with more than 50 per cent of respondents to a Washington Post/Ipsos poll opposed to sending immigrants to El Salvador without a court hearing.

We know that Trump is using the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a test of his limits. And I am proud of the many Americans who have raised their voices in alarm about the lack of due process and flagrant disregard for the law his case has raised. It is absolutely outrageous that the President of the United States can be so callous about the rights of a man who has lost his freedom to what Trump’s own people have admitted was an administrative error.

Who are we, and what country is this?

If we are to remain the America we know and love, we must do all we can to fight back against this 21st century tyranny. Because make no mistake – this regime has clearly demonstrated that it hates democracy as we know it, and wishes to break the spine of America so it can bend us to their will. That is why we have been faced with a firehose of law-defying, anti-democratic and truly breathtakingly unbelievable actions in the first 100 days of this presidency. They want us broken, unsteady on our feet, overwhelmed and scared, unsure which actions to take to fight back.

But we are not defeated – and we all have a voice.

We also have power – the power invested in us by the constitution and by the people who voted for us.

I’ll admit I don’t have all of the answers, and as a state legislature we are limited in what we can do to curb the worst impulses of a federal government determined to break laws – and a Congress that has voluntarily surrendered its power.

But I will be damned if I am going to stay silent about what is happening in this country, and I hope all of you here will join me in pointing out the fundamentally anti-democratic and anti-American actions of this presidency. This is about immigrants, yes – but it is also about so much more.

We are in a battle for the soul of America. And we are the foot soldiers who will help determine whether this country remains the metaphorical “shining City on a Hill” that we have cherished – even with all its imperfections – for two hundred and fifty years. As Thomas Paine once proclaimed, “…let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king.”

The law is king – not a man or woman, not a President, and certainly not Donald Trump

So let it be entered into the record today that I unequivocally object to the dissolution of due process and the rule of law in America. And, as long as I am Senate President, Massachusetts will resist this new tyranny. And the Senate will continue to embrace the principles and blueprint of our Response 2025 initiative to protect our residents, defend our values and help lead this great nation past this moment of grave danger.

So far, as part of Response 2025, the Senate has held a hearing about the threats to our leadership in climate change, filed a bill to strengthen protections for those seeking and providing health care, and Steering and Policy Committee members have begun meeting with all of you to gather ideas and actions we can take to protect, defend and lead.

Today is a part of that response, and I welcome all who join me. Thank you.