FROM OUR PRINTED DEC 2024 EDITION
Governor Healey Declares War on the U.S. Constitution
by Atty. Robert Snider
When the Democrat-controlled media are not able to keep the public from knowledge about a subject that shows how harmful its policies are, they conspire to confuse the facts. They change the meaning of words and actively use code words to disguise reality.
By inviting in thousands of unvetted illegal aliens and spending billions on their care while neglecting the needs of citizens, Governor Healey shows that she adheres to an ideology that values illegal aliens over the safety of citizens. Immediately after the landslide election of President Trump, who promises to deport illegal aliens, the governor declared war on the Constitution which gives sole responsibility for immigration to the federal government.
With the righteous tone of a true believer, the governor declared that “Every tool in the toolbox has got to be used to protect our citizens, to protect our residents, and protect our states, and certainly to hold the line on democracy and the rule of law.” Her scope of protection includes “residents” as equals with taxpaying citizens. The Massachusetts State Police will add to their abysmal public relations by being AWOL from deportation.
In order to provide a talking point to the 2,072,304 voters who automatically voted the “D” and to disarm the 1,234,783 voters who voted to protect our children, the woke chorus will shout self-righteously that the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in the Lunn Case (477 Mass. 517, 2017) that Massachusetts has no duty to cooperate with ICE. They declare that Massachusetts police have no power to arrest and detain illegal aliens.
The Lunn ruling does not justify the refusal to cooperate with ICE either legally or morally. References to Lunn are just another big lie.
Appellate decisions, like Lunn, deal with a specific set of facts and a legal analysis that applies only to that set of facts.
The law giving the power to arrest is based on common law and on statute. The power to arrest and to search is so important that the Fourth Amendment and Article XIV of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights are devoted to the issue. The law of arrest is complex because it must balance the power of police to arrest so that the community may be safe while protecting the rights of citizens from the abuse of the same police power.
Lunn was an illegal alien when he appeared in the Boston Municipal Court on a criminal charge of unarmed robbery. When Lunn was arrested, he failed to post bail. He was committed to the custody of the Suffolk sheriff and held at the jail. While he was held, ICE filed a federal form that asked the commonwealth to hold Lunn for 48 hours on the civil ground that ICE intended to deport him. The request for the 48-hour period is to accommodate the time needed for ICE to assign an ICE officer to respond. Critical to the Court’s reasoning is that the federal form is a civil and not a criminal procedure. Just being present in the U.S. is not a crime. (Arizona vs. U.S., 567 U.S. 387 (2012))
Court officers have the same powers to arrest in courthouses as do Massachusetts police officers, generally. When Lunn appeared at the BMC, he was legally “under arrest” by court officers.
When the prosecution’s witness failed to appear, the judge dismissed the criminal complaint. That left the only grounds for holding Lunn a federal civil request. Thus, the issue was whether court officers could arrest and hold Lunn solely on civil grounds. The SJC ruled that court officers have no power to arrest on civil grounds.
Lunn is not an excuse for refusal to arrest and hold those charged with either misdemeanors or felonies whether in a courthouse or outside.
The Court pointed out in 2017 that the Legislature could grant the power to arrest by statute, but no action has been taken by the Party of Sanctuary. There is no sanctuary for women, like Laken Riley, from torture and rape by the illegal aliens favored by Governor Healey and the Legislature.
Governor Healey’s argument, that she is free to ignore a federal law she does not like, is exactly the same argument expressed by the Southern Democrats of South Carolina on April 12, 1861, when they fired on Fort Sumpter, declaring war on Republican President Lincoln and sparking the Civil War. ♦
