Panelists oppose Romney policing plan

Members of the Governor's Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence are urging Governor Mitt Romney to reconsider his proposal to give state troopers power to enforce immigration laws.

The committee on immigrants and refugees, which is part of the commission, sent a letter to Romney this week arguing that deputizing state troopers in that way would have ``devastating, unintended consequences for immigrant and refugee victims of violence and sexual assault."

``Recasting state and/or local police as enforcers of immigration law will create such a culture of fear within immigrant communities that there will be a complete erosion of the hard-won trust between law enforcement and community members," the letter read. ``As a result, fewer crimes will be reported and investigated, and fewer batterers, rapists, and traffickers will be arrested and prosecuted."

The 25-member committee focuses on domestic violence issues involving immigrants and refugees.

In June, the Romney administration began talks with the Department of Homeland Security toward an agreement that would give state troopers authority to detain undocumented immigrants solely for having entered the country illegally. Currently, troopers are not authorized to hold undocumented immigrants unless they have broken state laws.

Under the agreement the state is seeking with federal officials, only some state troopers would be given authority to detain undocumented immigrants: members of specialized units, such as the antigang unit, the antiterrorism unit, the fugitive arrest squad, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and some officers at the Department of Correction. About two dozen would be given the extra powers initially, according to an administration spokesman.

Committee chair Victoria Fahlberg, an advocate for immigrants in Lowell, said the letter was in keeping with the committee's role as advisers, and that when it had voiced policy concerns in the past, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who chairs the commission, had been ``pretty responsive."

``This is the role of an advisory committee," Fahlberg said.

In an e-mail, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor would be standing by his initiative.

``Sexual and domestic violence is against the law, and as a society we don't tolerate it," he said. ``Sneaking into this country without documentation is also against the law, and we shouldn't tolerate that either. Breaking the law, any law, is wrong and our laws need to be enforced."

He declined to make Healey available for comment.

Yvonne Abraham can be reached at abraham@globe.com.