BOSTON — Massachusetts lawmakers are set to duel this legislative session over the relationship between local law enforcement officers and federal immigration authorities amid a renewed effort by President Donald Trump to crack down on unlawful immigration into the United States.

Trump’s pledge to conduct mass deportations, including through raids in cities like Boston, and security concerns in state-run shelters housing migrants have drawn attention to whether or not local authorities should be able to work with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

As Beacon Hill legislators take different approaches to the issue, Amy Grunder, director of state government affairs at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said immigration policies are likely to be top of mind this legislative session.

“We’ve seen a lot of bills filed both pro-immigrant and anti-immigrant this session,” Grunder told the Herald. “We hadn’t seen anti-immigration legislation filed in some time. So opponents are feeling empowered by the national context as well.”

Sen. Ryan Fattman put forward legislation last week that would require sheriffs, correctional facilities, prosecutors, probation officers, other “non-federal” entities, and state, municipal, and college police departments to comply with requests from ICE to detain people who have committed “violent” crimes.

The Sutton Republican pointed to a series of alleged crimes in state-run shelters, including the arrest of one illegal immigrant with an assault rifle and alleged stash of fentanyl at a site in Revere, as a reason local authorities should be mandated to work with the feds.

“It’s become incredibly evident to everyone in our state that our shelter law has welcomed in people who, in many instances, have committed dangerous crimes, and yet we have this loophole in the law that says some law enforcement can’t communicate with their federal law enforcement partners to enact justice and get these people out of our communities,” he told the Herald.

Fattman’s bill requires local authorities to cooperate with federal officers when the person ICE is attempting to detain has been convicted or charged with a crime like murder, rape, sexual abuse of a minor, and drug or firearms trafficking.

It also mandates compliance with an immigration detainer if a Massachusetts law enforcement agency employee decides someone “poses a threat to public safety” or there is another “compelling argument” to support detention, according to the bill text.

The proposal could clash with legislation filed by Sen. Jamie Eldridge that would largely limit interactions between local police and federal immigration authorities, including by barring law enforcement in Massachusetts from performing the functions of an immigration officer.

The Marlborough Democrat said the measure, dubbed the “Safe Communities Act,” may have a better chance at becoming law this year with Trump back in the White House. Eldridge filed the bill multiple times over the last several sessions with little success.

“I think that the Safe Communities Act is critical to draw a bright line between the federal immigration enforcement efforts and state and local law enforcement and sheriffs and better educate immigrant communities about what their rights are,” he said in an interview.

Eldridge said he did not change the legislation from when he filed it last session except for several “technical” edits.

The bill bans court and police officers from questioning a person about their immigration status unless state or federal law requires the inquiry. It also mandates written consent before authorities conduct an interview with someone focused on immigration.

The proposal prohibits local law enforcement from initiating communication with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about someone’s pending or imminent release from a jail or house of correction for any other reason than the end of their criminal sentence.

Grunder, the state government affairs director at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said the “Safe Communities Act” is often misunderstood.

“I think the main thing that people get wrong about the bill is that there’s this perception that somehow this bill would prevent law enforcement from being able to do its job,” Grunder said. “The other piece that people get wrong is that they think it limits communication with ICE, again, about crime.”

Fattman also thinks his bill has a chance at clearing the Legislature this year after a series of alleged crimes in state-run shelters and the publication of a trove of records that detail a bevy of “serious incidents” in the emergency assistance program.

“We have welcomed individuals here with open arms, most of which have been people and families looking for a better life — that is totally recognized and understandable — but some who have come with malintent and perhaps even more nefarious intent,” he said.

His proposal looks to address a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling that found authorities in Massachusetts could not detain someone based solely on suspected immigration violations.

The decision left it up to the Massachusetts Legislature to define the relationship between local law enforcement officers and federal immigration authorities, including how officials here deal with civil immigration detainer requests from ICE.

Detainer requests are documents issued by federal immigration officers when they want to arrest a person who is in state custody in an attempt to remove them from the country.

By issuing a detainer, federal officers ask state officials to hold a person for up to two days after they would otherwise be released.

Eldridge’s bill does not touch on the 2017 ruling but he argued police chiefs do not “want to be involved in enforcing immigration laws.”

He said, “It actually makes their job harder.”

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