Rhode Island Democrats have introduced a bill that would bar police departments from hiring ICE agents brought on during President Donald Trump's second term, escalating the state's pushback against federal immigration enforcement.
Immigration enforcement agents, including those within ICE, have come under fire in recent months from Democratic lawmakers and governors opposed to the tactics involved in Trump's mass deportation agenda, which the president has said are necessary due to the open-border effects of the Biden era.
In Rhode Island, companion bills in the House and Senate dubbed the ICE OUT Act would amend the Law Enforcement Officers' Due Process Accountability and Transparency Act to add a section denoting the new restriction.
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS PROPOSE LEGISLATION PROHIBITING CAR RENTAL COMPANIES FROM SERVING ICE AGENTS
"A law enforcement agency… shall not employ any individual who was hired as a sworn officer of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency on or after January 20, 2025," the bill reads.
The policy would take effect in October 2026 and would not affect any officers already hired out of ICE's ranks.
The bill's top sponsor in the House, Democratic state Rep. Karen Alzate of Pawtucket, said during a recent hearing that the policy would help bolster public-police relationships in Rhode Island, according to the Providence Journal.
ANTI-ICE LAW SET TO TAKE EFFECT IN MAINE AS GOVERNOR FACES INCREASED CRITICISM FOR ALLOWING IT AMID SENATE RUN
An official with the Rhode Island Women's Bar Association, which supports the bill, also told the paper that the alleged "relaxed hiring standards" of Trump-era DHS would not suffice in the Ocean State.
In response, Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital that "sanctuary politicians" in Rhode Island are wrongly casting ICE agents as villains while they continue to be targeted, threatened and doxxed just for doing their jobs.
"They should be grateful that these newly hired ICE officers stepped up to keep criminal illegal aliens off of Rhode Island's streets," Bis said.
"To most Americans, our ICE officers are heroes as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists."
Meanwhile, Rhode Island police officials warned in recent state legislative testimony on a broader group of Democratic-led police reform bills, which include the ICE OUT Act, that officer recruitment will take a hit, according to the Fall River Reporter.
Another such bill from state Rep. Joshua Giraldo, D-Central Falls, would ban ICE from being within 200 feet of a polling place. During the session, Giraldo said that when conjecture about stationing federal immigration enforcement near polls arises, "particularly in the current climate; immigrant communities hear a message that is aimed at intimidation."
DHS officers on duty are already banned from the city proper in the state capital under a January executive order from Providence Mayor Brett Smiley that makes parking lots, schools, parks and government buildings restricted areas.
"[Providence] has the responsibility to manage such property in a manner that ensures public trust, access and delivery of essential city services for all residents," the mayor's order read in part.
Fox News Digital reached out to Gov. Dan McKee for indications as to whether he would sign the ICE OUT Act if it reaches his desk, and to DHS for comment.
