Patrick's First Test

Early Thursday morning Governor-elect Deval Patrick announced that he would be reviewing current Governor Mitt Romney’s plan to allow certain state troopers to arrest illegal immigrants. As of now, troopers cannot detain people because of their citizenship statue alone. But under Romney’s new deal, if a state trooper suspects someone is not a citizen they can call to check, and arrest the person.

This has, understandably, immigration and civil liberties activists, very troubled. The claim “it would lead to racial profiling and foster mistrust of the police in communities with large numbers of immigrants” (Boston Globe). Clearly, this raises several issues. While Romney claims the troopers will be specially trained, it is a 4 and ½ week training session, and many doubt that that will be enough to allow troopers to really understand and get involved in one of the most controversial issues in America. There is also a question of the amount of time someone can be detained, and detaining without probable cause. The exact details are still not clear.

Luckily, Deval Patrick has taken the other side saying, "I still think it’s a bad idea, and I’m going to get briefed by the secretary of public safety on exactly what the agreement is and what the guidelines are, and then I’m going to be looking at my power and my opportunities to fix what I think is broken."

Many of his supporters hope that he will overturn the Romney deal; however, one cannot help but notice the tentative tone with which Patrick speaks. Let’s hope that for Patrick becoming Governor doesn’t come in the way of pursuing what is right.