Every month ICE kidnaps dozens of Rhode Island residents, leaving behind traumatized children and broken families. Nearly 700 Rhode Islanders were taken by ICE in just the first 12 months of the current Trump regime. Every person ICE has seized was part of the fabric of our community.

East Providence and its community members have not been spared.

We saw the real human cost of this in the recent case of Eva Helena Mendes, who immigrated to the United States as an 8-year old, and has been living in the U.S. for the past 40 years. Despite decades of living in and contributing to our community, despite her being a mother of six, despite a long record of maintaining her green card, and despite her having been a cherished employee of Town Pizza in Riverside, Mendes was detained when flying back from attending her brother’s funeral in Cape Verde and thrown into immigration limbo. Our community was relieved to hear that Mendes was released and that the deportation proceedings against her were dismissed. No family should ever have to face the cruelty of state terror.


Our state has taken some important steps, but still has a long way to go to protect our immigrant friends and neighbors. We thank Representatives Jenni Furtado and Katherine Kazarian, and Senator Robert Britto for sponsoring, and Governor Dan McKee for signing, recently passed legislation that:

• Prohibits ICE from conducting civil immigration arrests at our local courthouses without a judicial warrant
• Prevents ICE from being within 200 feet of polling places
• Enables individuals to sue ICE for civil rights violations

Much more needs to be done to protect our communities from state violence.

Ordinary folks have mobilized. Still, we lag behind other states in the region in protecting our immigrant neighbors. We call on whoever occupies the Governor’s office and the General Assembly Leadership to commit to immediate and concrete actions:

1. No ICE on State Property: Issue an immediate executive order prohibiting ICE and other immigration enforcement agents from using any state-owned property, buildings, parks, beaches, or parking lots as staging areas, processing locations, or operational bases.

2. No 287(g) Agreements or State Collaboration: Prevent any state agency, state police, or department of corrections personnel from formally or informally collaborating with or facilitating federal immigration enforcement. Thank you to Representatives Furtado and Boylan for sponsoring legislation last session to prohibit 287(g) agreements. This session we call on leadership to bring it to the floor and members to pass it.

3. Protect Our Public Institutions: Direct state executive agencies to work with public and private institutions, including schools and hospitals, to ensure clear, enforceable policies requiring a judicial warrant for entry into nonpublic spaces.

We call on our state leadership to stand with Rhode Island’s families, reject the politics of terror and violence, and use every tool of executive and legislative power to make Rhode Island truly safe for everyone who calls it home.

To learn more about East Providence in Community and get involved, visit: epicri.org.

Susan Dunnington
Libby Merrill
San Shoppell
On behalf of EPiC (East Providence in Community)