Democratic lawmakers from more than half a dozen states vowed on Thursday to push back next year on President Trump’s mass deportations, using coordinated legislation to complement the litigation already being used by Democratic attorneys general to challenge immigration policies.
The effort to protect immigrant gathering places, ban masked agents and combat other federal law enforcement tactics comes as state Democrats, emboldened by successes in the courts and at the ballot box, aim to attack the Trump administration politically on rule-of-law issues, such as violations of constitutional protections. They are also tapping into anxiety in immigrant communities, which has fueled concern among immigrant and nonimmigrant voters alike.
“It’s never been more important in our lifetimes that like-minded state legislators, like those here, work together to share ideas and strategies,” said State Senator Mike Weissman of Colorado, who represents Aurora, which Mr. Trump has targeted as a hotbed of Venezuelan gang activity. “States are not just laboratories of democracy, as Justice Louis Brandeis famously said. They are also laboratories where remedies are being developed to protect our country from the disease of authoritarianism that is spreading out from Washington, D.C.”
The legislative push augments what a bloc of up to 20 attorneys general have done over the last year through lawsuits on challenging administration policies such as stratospheric H1B visa fees, the withholding of antiterrorism funds and the firing of federal workers.
The coordinated effort is reminiscent of what conservative groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council and the State Policy Network have long done on issues such as promoting Christian valuesin schools, restricting abortion and limiting diversity initiatives,according to Gaby Goldstein, who founded State Futures, which organizes Democratic lawmakers, and who facilitated Thursday’s event.
She wrote in a recent essay that when it comes to drafting model bills that legislatures can use, along with assembling officials and disseminating ideas across the country, “the right has long done it better.”
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, was unimpressed.
“Instead of useless P.R. stunts that cater to Resistance Liberals, these Democrat lawmakers should spend their time supporting policies that will actually benefit their American constituents,” she said.
A dozen legislators from seven states joined Thursday’s event: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Individual Democratic states have already moved forward. A smattering of legislatures, for instance, passed legislation this year that banned agreements that delegate some federal immigration powers to state and municipal law enforcement agencies. Several states have proposed banning masked or unidentified law enforcement officers.
Now they believe they have more momentum.
Irene Shin, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates who represents Fairfax County outside of Washington, D.C., said that the Democrats’ robust performance in November’s elections would make it easier to pass “a comprehensive legislative agenda to protect our communities and push back against the federal overreach.” Virginia Democrats won all three statewide races in November and secured a near two-thirds majority in the Statehouse.
Ms. Shin mentioned banning cooperation agreements on immigration enforcement and shielding private data from federal agencies.
State Assemblyman Micah Lasher of New York, who represents Manhattan’s Upper West Side, said he had cosponsored legislation to declare certain places such as schools, houses of worship and nonprofit offices as off-limits to federal agents trying to make administrative arrests or arrests without a judicial warrant. That way, he said, “our neighbors can function freely in our communities and deal with the basic needs of life, and do so not in the shadows.”
Similar legislation was enacted this month in Illinois.
State Senator Amanda Cappelletti of Pennsylvania, who represents a slice of suburban Philadelphia, said she would redouble her efforts on legislation that would require mandatory identification for law enforcement officers, including their name, their badge number and an agency or department-issued uniform. Another bill would prohibit officers and agents from wearing facial coverings or garments to obscure their identity, punishable by civil or criminal penalties.
Her constituents, she said, have been watching their neighbors get picked up and detained without due process. “It is absolutely unacceptable,” she said.
Passing such legislation there will be a heavy lift. The Pennsylvania Senate is controlled, by a 28-22 edge, by Republicans, who, Ms. Cappelletti said, “have not yet shown the political will to move our bill.”
But she added that “today’s discussion leaves me feeling hopeful that we’re not alone in this fight, that there is momentum.”
David W. Chen is a Times reporter focused on state legislatures, state level policymaking and the political forces behind them.
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