Rhode Island’s General Assembly this year enacted two measures designed to shield immigrants from federal enforcement actions, part of a national wave of immigration legislation that has divided states along partisan lines, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Senate Bill 274, which prohibits landlords from inquiring about immigration status, was introduced Feb. 13 by Sens. Quezada, Acosta, Bissaillon, Bell, and Mack. The bill amends Chapter 34-18 of Rhode Island General Laws, known as the “Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.”
Senate Bill 487, which bars healthcare personnel from asking patients about immigration status, was introduced Feb. 26 by Sens. Lauria, Acosta, Quezada, Vargas, Lawson, Mack, DiMario, Euer, Pearso,n and Ujifusa. The legislation amends Chapter 23-17.8, which addresses “Abuse in Healthcare Facilities.”
Both bills were passed during Rhode Island’s 2025 legislative session, which recessed on June 21, and were signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee. Rhode Island was among just a handful of Democratic-led states to enact such protections this year.
The measures came as part of more than 100 immigration-related bills passed across the country in 2025, with the legislation “divided almost evenly between those providing and denying protections to immigrants,” according to the AP analysis aided by bill tracking software Plural, published Monday.
“States have adopted more than 100 new immigration laws amid Trump’s crackdown,” highlighting “a political polarization among states, with many Republican-led states seeking to aid his efforts and many Democratic-led states enacting laws that resist his immigration agenda,” the AP reported.
Under Senate Bill 274, no landlord or agent of the landlord may make any inquiry regarding or require any statement about the immigration or citizenship status of a tenant, prospective tenant, occupant or prospective occupant of residential rental property. The law includes exceptions allowing landlords to comply with federal law and to request information necessary to verify financial qualifications or identity.
Senate Bill 487 makes it a violation for any personnel in any healthcare facility — including hospitals, emergency or urgent care facilities — to ask any patient their immigration status or to ask the patient to present proof of their legal presence in the United States.
Rhode Island’s approach stands in stark contrast to Republican-led states that have moved to assist federal immigration enforcement efforts. The number of cooperative agreements between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has surged from 135 agreements in 21 states before Trump took office in January to more than 1,000 agreements in 40 states, according to ICE data current as of Oct. 10.
These 287(g) agreements — named after the section of law that created the program — allow state and local law enforcement officers to be trained to assist ICE with immigration enforcement functions. Rhode Island is not among the states with active 287(g) agreements.
Florida leads the nation with 326 such agreements, followed by Texas with 185 and Pennsylvania with 39, according to the AP analysis.
California has passed the greatest number of immigration-related measures this year, with nearly all of them favorable to immigrants, the AP found. Those measures include limiting immigration enforcement in public schools, requiring notification when immigration officials are present at educational institutions and restricting health care facilities from disclosing patients’ immigration status.
Other Democratic-led states that have enacted protective measures include Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and Oregon, according to the AP’s bill tracking. Oregon joined Rhode Island in prohibiting landlords from inquiring about immigration status through its Senate Bill 599, while Colorado’s Senate Bill 276 prohibits public child-care centers, schools, colleges, health-care facilities and libraries from collecting information about people’s immigration status.
The complete list of immigration-related bills enacted in 2025 is available on the online platform Plural.
AP coverage by DAVID A. LIEB contributed to this story.