Charlie Baker faults Gov. Deval Patrick on immigration crisis

The Patrick administration yesterday washed its hands of the growing controversy over the planeloads of illegal immigrants covertly shipped to the Bay State from Texas, even as Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Baker said he would roll up his sleeves and attack the hot-button issue down in Washington, D.C.

“I said for a while now that as governor under these circumstances and situation I would be in constant contact with the White House and the folks at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to the point where if I needed to go to Washington and take a few of the sheriffs and other folks who are being engaged in this conversation with me, I would,” Baker said on Boston Herald Radio yesterday.

Speaking for the Patrick administration, Terrel Harris, of the Executive Office of Public Safety, said in a statement that the state has “no role” in the agreements between the sheriffs and ICE. “Those contracts were negotiated between the two parties,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Patrick, who spent yesterday in New Hampshire at an unrelated event, referred the Herald to the statement, and did not respond to requests for a response to Baker’s comments.

Baker said he wanted state officials to ask the feds to answer questions local sheriffs have raised about the seven secret flights of illegal immigrants to the Bay State in recent weeks.

“I think it’s important that Massachusetts leaders stand up for Massachusetts on this one and get answers from the federal government ... and what the end game is here, how it’s going to get resolved, what’s the time frame,” the Swampscott Republican said. Federal officials have refused to say whether the unprecedented flights of detainees from Texas to Massachusetts stem from the recent deluge of 30,000 illegal immigrants — and as many as 50,000 unaccompanied kids — across the southern border.

But political observers say that with the border crisis hitting home here, it will put the immigration debate squarely in the middle of the gubernatorial campaign.

“Immigration should be one of the top issues discussed as part of the gubernatorial campaign,” said Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston. “That will raise some interesting questions and cast new light on Massachusetts’ role on being a place where immigrants are being detained.”

Treasurer Steve Grossman, who is running for governor in the Democratic primary, slammed Baker for his attack on Patrick.

“I know Charlie Baker is looking for opportunities to whack the governor, and he can do that if he wants. I would choose to look at how to solve the problem, rather than engaging in cheap political rhetoric,” Grossman said. The Democratic front-runner, Attorney General Martha Coakley, said she didn’t have any “first-hand information” on ICE detainees coming here, nor has her office sought any out. Instead she blasted federal inaction on immigration reform.

“I’m frustrated there’s been no action on the federal level for years,” Coakley said, “and this is just another indication of what happens. It’s an indication of what happens at the state level and the state’s inability to address some of the issues.”

Irked Deval lashes out at Baker rip - July 16, 2014 - A snippy Gov. Deval Patrick lashed out at Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Baker yesterday over secret planeloads of illegal immigrants recently shipped to the Bay State from Texas saying his former rival is fanning the flames.
“What I hear is one candidate issuing a whole lot of misinformation on what’s happening. … I’m talking about Charlie Baker. Which news are you talking about?” Patrick told the Herald when asked about the immigration flights.
Baker said Monday on Boston Herald Radio that if he were governor, he would be in “constant contact with the White House” and immigration enforcement officials and even “take a few of the sheriffs and other folks who are being engaged in this conversation” to Washington.
Patrick hedged when asked whether local sheriffs were correct in saying that shipping illegal immigrants to Massachusetts was an “unprecedented” maneuver.
“That’s wrong. For 10 years or more — I think maybe even going back to the time Charlie Baker was around — individual sheriffs had individual contracts with the federal government to detain individuals who were in the midst of their deportation processes, and the federal government pays them for that,” he said. “They have entered into those contracts without state government in the past, and they continue to do so.”
Patrick added that he has been in contact with the White House regarding the “humanitarian crises” involving minors crossing the border in droves.
“They are not in that group being flown in for detention,” Patrick added. “We have been in touch with the White House, as have most governors, about how we — if at all — can help shelter some of the unaccompanied minors to help the country deal with the humanitarian crisis. So that’s a separate issue.”
Patrick said local sheriffs have not voiced their concerns with the recent influx of immigrants because “they don’t have any concerns. They’re being paid under contracts that they entered. Nobody told them to. Nobody made them. They entered and are being paid by the federal government for the services they render.”
One local sheriff said that wasn’t true.
“If the governor would take the time to understand the breadth of the problem, he would realize that we are concerned,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who was in Texas yesterday to discuss the border crisis. “This isn’t just about money.”

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