A former Pembroke selectman who has backed benefits for illegal immigrants is running for state representative.
Democrat Becky Coletta is running against Pembroke Republican Ken Sweezey in the Sixth Plymouth District.
Coletta unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts Senate in the Plymouth and Barnstable District in a 2020 special election.
During that run, she took stances sympathetic to illegal immigrants in a Progressive Massachusetts questionnaire.
Coletta said that she supported providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, making illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition, and making Massachusetts a sanctuary state.
Here is how she answered those three questions from Progressive Massachusetts:
Safe Communities Act. Do you support the Safe Communities Act, which limits local and state police collaboration with federal immigration agents, bars law enforcement and court personnel from inquiring about immigration status, and ensures due process protections? BC: YES.
Work and Family Mobility Act. Do you support removing immigration status as a barrier to applying for a license or learner’s permit? BC: YES. Studies have shown that driver’s licenses increase safety on the roads.
Higher Education Access. Do you support granting in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented students? BC: YES. Students who have graduated from Massachusetts high schools and are ready to contribute to our society should be given the opportunity to do so. Meanwhile, I would continue to press our federal government to resolve immigration issues through comprehensive reform.
Massachusetts enacted a law in 2022 that provided driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and made them eligible for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities in 2023. Additionally, over the last several years, some Democratic lawmakers on Beacon Hill have pushed to make the Bay State a sanctuary state. Their proposal would prevent Massachusetts law enforcement and court personnel from asking people about their immigration status; limit communication with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including not letting the federal agency know when people would be released from custody; and end so-called 287g agreements that allow Massachusetts jails and prisons to house federal immigration detainees.
Coletta’s opponent, Ken Sweezey, a Republican from Pembroke, backed an unsuccessful veto referendum in 2022 to repeal the driver’s license for illegal immigrant law; the repeal effort failed 54 percent to 46 percent, but strong majorities in South Shore towns supported repealing the law.
While voicing support for the repeal effort, Sweezey said he opposed things that reward illegal immigration.
Here is what he wrote in a July 15, 2022, Facebook post:
CAMPAIGN ACTION ON BALLOT INITIATIVE TO STOP H4805
Please stop by and sign the petition to rescind the law recently passed to grant drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Polling on this issue proves it should be left up to the people of the Commonwealth in November. The legislature, unfortunately, rammed it through overwhelmingly. Yet polls show that 48% Disapprove and only 47% approve, with the rest undecided. This law must be stopped in order to assure election integrity and security. This is no conspiracy theory, these are serious concerns leveled by auditors and the Governor. We must address these potential issues.
It is a law that has wide ranging and bipartisan opposition. The Massachusetts GOP, Governor Baker, the entire Republican Caucus on Beacon Hill, and even multiple Democrats in the House opposed it (my opponent voted for it).
On top of the voting implications we need to stop the cultural shift of rewarding those who break the law. We need to support immigrants that waited their turn and came here LEGALLY. If you truly want justice then you celebrate and help those individuals that did it the right way. Many of these immigrants with undocumented status are still good people trying their best for a better life, which although admirable, does not give them a free pass to decide which laws they follow and which they do not.
Support me and Fair and Secure MA by helping collect the 40,000 signatures required to stop this law from going into effect next summer! #mapoli
The Sixth Plymouth District includes these South Shore Communities: the town of Duxbury; Precinct 2 of Halifax; Precincts 2 and 3 of Hanson; Precincts 2A and 4 of Marshfield; and Precincts 1, 2, 3A, 4, and 5 of Pembroke.
It’s an open-seat race. Former state representative Josh Cutler (D-Pembroke) became the Undersecretary of Apprenticeship, Work-Based Learning, and Policy for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development in February 2024. The seat has been vacant ever since.
Coletta and Sweezey could not be reached for comment on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.
New to NewBostonPost? This isn’t the kind of content you’d expect to find in a Massachusetts news outlet. But here it is. You can get more news and commentary that respects conservative values for two bucks — $2 for two months. Join the real revolution.
Screenshot from PACTV broadcast. 
