BOSTON, MA - In response to a recent 25 Investigates report exposing a loophole in the screening process for licensed daycare providers, Republican leaders in the Massachusetts State Senate are drafting a budget amendment aimed at requiring international background checks. The current state regulations do not mandate checks for warrants or criminal convictions occurring outside of the United States.
A draft of the proposed amendment, filed by Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and Assistant Minority Leader Peter Durant, seeks to mandate that the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) “to the maximum extent feasible, conduct checks on all international criminal databases.” Furthermore, the draft amendment stipulates that “any licensees shall submit under the pains and penalties of perjury all information submitted to the department.”
The legislative action comes after a 25 Investigates report that highlighted the case of Andre Tiago Lucas. Lucas was wanted in Brazil, having been convicted of raping a 13-year-old. Federal immigration authorities tracked him down to Hyannis in October, where he was residing at his wife’s licensed home daycare facility.
“The most recent reporting makes me even more concerned. Ted, that we are not doing an appropriate job of monitoring who is in these facilities into which the care for our children is being entrusted,” State Senator Tarr said in an interview with Ted Daniel. “Clearly we have to do better and we need to expand the background checks and we also need to increase the penalties for providing false information as it’s being gathered by the Department of Early Education and Care.”
Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, called the situation “a failure at the state level,” citing both the vetting process of the daycare operator and the fact that Lucas was able to evade authorities while hiding from a prison sentence for a “heinous crime.
Governor Healey previously told 25 Investigates Lucas’s wife failed to register him as a household member as required, but even if she had complied with the regulations, his criminal history in Brazil would not have been flagged under the existing screening procedures.
EEC follows federal and state laws and regulations regarding background record checks, which does not include screening for immigration status or international criminal history, an agency spokesperson said.
The proposed amendment is one of hundreds to be debated before the senate version of the budget is finalized.
“My assumption is that every one of my colleagues wants to make sure that daycare facilities are safe, and wants to make sure that we have appropriate monitoring, appropriate background checks. And I think it’s hard to argue with the proposition that those background checks need to be effective and comprehensive as possible,” State Sen. Tarr said. “My hope is that we’ll be able to move forward and make this very simple in many ways, but very powerful change soon.
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