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Governor Signs Law Restricting ICE in Her State
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Governor Signs Law Restricting ICE in Her State

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has signed a sweeping new law designed to restrict federal immigration enforcement at schools, hospitals, courthouses, and other locations across the state, putting Massachusetts on another collision course with the Trump administration over Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Healey signed the legislation Aug. 5 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and described it as the strongest state law in the country aimed at limiting ICE activity in designated locations.

The law covers schools, daycare facilities, hospitals, health centers, nursing homes, and courthouses, establishing restrictions intended to prevent those locations from becoming routine sites for federal immigration enforcement.

Healey argues that the measure is necessary because fear of ICE has begun affecting ordinary activities in immigrant communities.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, she claimed some children in Chelsea have stopped attending school because their families fear encounters with immigration agents. She also said people have avoided medical appointments and court appearances because they are concerned about possible immigration enforcement, according to CBS News.

“The law I’m signing today is a public safety law,” Healey told reporters.


She acknowledged that the country needs both immigration reform and border controls, but then delivered a far more confrontational message about how the Trump administration is conducting immigration enforcement.

“I think we can agree that we need immigration reform in this country. We can agree we need controls at the border,” Healey said.

“We can also agree that ICE is so wrong in what it’s doing and ICE needs to be stopped, here in Massachusetts and around this country, just stopped in its tracks.”

That puts the governor directly at odds with the Trump administration at a time when ICE has been expanding enforcement operations nationwide.

Detentions reached their highest level of President Donald Trump’s second term in July as the administration continued its effort to arrest and remove illegal immigrants, including individuals with criminal records as well as other people subject to removal under federal immigration law.

The Department of Homeland Security responded to the Massachusetts legislation by arguing that state and local restrictions on cooperation with ICE make immigration enforcement more difficult and ultimately require federal officers to operate more visibly in communities.

“Instead of working with us, Massachusetts lawmakers are choosing to RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly back into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims,” a DHS representative told CBS News.

The department argued that when local authorities refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials, ICE must locate individuals after they have already returned to the community rather than taking custody of them in controlled environments such as jails.


“When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” the department said.

DHS also pointed to cooperation between ICE and some cities with low crime rates, stating that “seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE.”

The competing arguments expose the fundamental disagreement behind sanctuary policies.

Healey maintains that aggressive immigration enforcement can discourage people from attending school, seeking medical treatment, or participating in court proceedings. From that perspective, restricting ICE activity at certain locations protects public access to essential institutions.

Federal immigration officials argue that limiting cooperation produces the opposite result. DHS contends that when state and local governments will not assist ICE, federal officers are forced to conduct more enforcement operations in neighborhoods and other public settings.

Massachusetts is far from alone in adopting policies intended to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

As of June, 15 states had sanctuary policies, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that favors lower levels of immigration and has been critical of sanctuary jurisdictions.

The organization defines sanctuary jurisdictions as states, counties, or cities with “laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from ICE.”

Supporters of sanctuary policies reject that characterization, arguing that local governments should not be transformed into extensions of federal immigration enforcement and that cooperation with police, courts, schools, and health providers can suffer when immigrants fear those institutions could lead them to ICE.

The Massachusetts law takes that disagreement beyond rhetoric by establishing state-level protections around specific locations.

It also arrives as Trump pursues the opposite approach nationally. His administration has made immigration enforcement one of its central priorities, increasing arrests and seeking greater cooperation from state and local authorities.

That leaves Massachusetts and Washington pursuing sharply different policies at the same time.

Healey says restricting ICE at sensitive locations is necessary for public safety. DHS says policies restricting cooperation with ICE can result in dangerous offenders being released and force agents to make arrests in less controlled environments.

And Healey has left little doubt about how far she intends to take the confrontation.

Her stated goal is not merely to modify ICE practices in Massachusetts.

She wants the agency “stopped in its tracks.”

Written by Arthur Higgens - August 10, 2026