By Ella Adams

Leaders in immigration advocacy, the climate transition and the Republican Party on Wednesday added to a conversation taking over the Bay State: how Massachusetts is impacted by, and plans to respond to, the incoming Trump administration. At a MASSterList and State House News Service event about "Massachusetts in the new Trump era," they talked about how they expect Donald Trump's second-term policies to manifest in Massachusetts.

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MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale said she expects the beginning of 2025 to be vastly different than Trump’s first months in office in 2016 due to increased party coordination and long-term transition work this time around. Carnevale expects Trump to sign a number of executive orders on day one and to put pending regulatory rulemaking on hold.

Carnevale's perspective on Trump's policies contrasted from the rhetoric of immigration and climate advocates on the panel. Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights, pointed to family separations, raids and the chilling effects that Trump's immigration policies caused during his first term.

"The border is here. This is not something that’s going to happen thousands of miles away, disconnected from your families or your communities or your neighborhoods, and we know this from Trump 1.0," Espinoza-Madrigal said.

While he welcomes criminal enforcement, he said Trump’s immigration policy "is manufacturing an immigration crisis by going after people who already have an immigration status," like those who are DACA recipients, or who live and work under temporary protected status.

Espinoza-Madrigal spoke about how the immigration narrative under Trump "leads to the demonization" of immigrants, even many who are eligible for asylum and who "represent an investment in our economic future."

Carnevale said she expects Massachusetts to "be in the crosshairs of this national debate," and that Republicans' priority is focused on criminal migrants. She referred to Massachusetts officials’ responses to Trump’s recent deportation threats as potentially impacting the relationship between the new administration and Massachusetts.

Climate and clean energy policy under a Trump administration also drew concerns from advocates, including president of the Alliance for Climate Transition, Joe Curtatone, who said he expects “slow downs” and “pauses” in the work, but not changes in general direction. Curtatone, the former mayor of Somerville, said there's going to be a “bigger reliance on states like Massachusetts and regional coalitions and sub-national entities, like cities and towns, to lead.”

There’s been broad, national concern about Trump potentially overturning the Inflation Reduction Act and the impact it would have on clean energy policy. Graham Shalgian, senior VP at Rasky Partners, said he thinks the IRA would be hard to repeal considering so many states, including midwestern and southern states, benefit from the bill.

As she has before, Carnevale pointed to Trump’s clean energy and climate policies — which include the loosening of federal environmental protection — as promoting “energy independence” and “energy dominance.”

In her outlook, Carnevale mentioned the federal reconciliation bill as one of the most essential pieces of legislation for Republicans to pass at the start of 2025. She said the package will contain anything addressing taxes or spending; the bill can pass the Senate by 51 votes, below the normal 60-vote threshold.

Shalgian noted that the reconciliation bill is one of the few that Republicans can procedurally move forward without Democratic support. Considering the “razor-thin margin” in the U.S. House, he said, most other policy-focused bills could need bipartisan support to pass in the beginning months of 2025.

Discussion covered other topics including the impact of the Trump administration on health care, public health research and hospitals; federal funding for state transportation projects; and diversity, equity and inclusion-related projects nationwide.

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