By Colleen Quinn, State House News Service

Immigrants, advocates and some lawmakers pleaded with members of a legislative committee to advance a bill that would give police officers the ability to use their “discretion” when dealing with someone who has a detainment order from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Under the Secure Communities Act, local police officers have turned into immigration officials and it has dismantled the trust law enforcement has worked to build in many immigrant communities, according to those in favor of limiting the state’s cooperation in the federal program.

Advocates are pushing for legislation (S 1135/H 1613) known as the “Trust Act” that would limit state enforcement of ICE detainers, provide attorney privileges to individuals before they are interviewed by ICE and require reimbursement for the expense of participation. The bills, sponsored by Sen. James Eldridge (D-Acton) and Rep. Carl Sciortino (D-Medford), are entitled an “an act to restore community trust in Massachusetts law enforcement.”

Secure Communities gathers data that local and state law enforcement submit to the FBI for identity verification and runs it through an immigration database, which can sometimes result in an immigration detainer on the individual, which ICE says helps remove dangerous people.

Since the program went into effect in 2012, immigrants believe any contact with police could result in deportation, advocates and people who have been detained said. Crimes go unreported, witnesses stay silent, and domestic violence has jumped among immigrants afraid to seek restraining orders, they said.

The program was first presented to states as optional, and Boston was one of the cities that piloted it. Gov. Deval Patrick resisted implementation of Secure Communities in Massachusetts. In May 2012, the federal government announced it would be mandatory in every state.

During the hearing, immigrants and advocates cited examples where they said law-abiding citizens were detained.

Speaking through a translator, Edgar Lucelo told lawmakers he was detailed by ICE for six months after he was pulled over for driving without a license. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally from Guatemala in 2003. After going through the hearing process, he was eventually given permanent residence status. Others are not as lucky, he said.

“Many people are getting detained without any reason,” he said.

Eldridge, who sponsored the bill, said state and local police officers find themselves enforcing federal immigration law. Immigrants may be in the country illegally, but in many instances they have not committed crimes in the community, Eldridge said.

Avi Chomsky, a history professor at Salem State University, told the story of a young single mother who came to this country illegally from Guatemala to escape domestic violence. Mariola Perez arrived in the United States three years ago, traumatized and three months pregnant, according to Chomsky, who took the woman into her home.

Since then, Perez has worked hard to become part of the community by working, taking college classes and learning English, Chomsky said.

Earlier this month, she was pulled over for driving without a license and taken to the police station where she was finger-printed. She was issued a citation to appear in court, after assurances from police officers that they did not want to deport her, Chomsky told lawmakers.

When Perez appeared in court two ICE agents were waiting for her.

“This is not what our local police departments should be doing,” Chomsky said.

Rep. Denise Provost, a Democrat from Somerville, called the federal program “very vague and potentially destructive” because she said it destroys trust between the immigrant community and police departments.

In Somerville, Provost said, police hold monthly meetings with people in the immigrant community to make connections and help them find social services they might need. The ICE mandate destroys those relationships, she said.