Massachusetts Senate advances bill that would limit ICE operations

Tim Dunn, Boston Herald on May 1, 2026

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BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate has advanced its version of the Protect Act, which would limit ICE capabilities and operations in the state by prohibiting agents from making civil immigration arrests in courthouses and on state-owned property and ban any new 287(g) agreements, among other things.

Those cooperative 287(g) agreements allow local law enforcement to work with federal ICE partners.

The Senate bill closely mirrors a version passed by the House last month, with the Senate version expanding the prohibition of civil immigration arrests in Massachusetts courthouses to additional locations, including child care facilities and public schools.

“The actions of federal immigration enforcement officials, at the direction of President Trump and Congressional Republicans, have brought fear and chaos to neighborhoods across Massachusetts and our nation,” said members of the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy, which advanced the legislation to a full Senate vote scheduled for next week along with negotiations with the House.

“These actions must be met with a policy response that makes clear that we will defend both the people and the values of this Commonwealth — and which goes as far as we can as a state to deliver protections to the residents of Massachusetts, especially our immigrant communities,” they said.

The Senate bill would also ban state and local law enforcement from engaging in civil immigration enforcement; would “protect residents from direct actions by federal law enforcement,” that violate individual protections under the U.S. Constitution; and prohibit state and local law enforcement from “unnecessarily questioning a person about their immigration or citizenship status,” or stopping a person because of their citizenship or immigration status.

The House version (H. 5316) would ban ICE agents from making civil immigration arrests in Massachusetts courthouses unless supported by a warrant or court order. It would further ban ICE from using “state or local resources for the primary purpose of facilitating a federal civil immigration enforcement action.” The House bill also would ban the expansion of future 287(g) agreements with ICE and would also ban Massachusetts police officers from providing information to federal agents on someone’s immigration status or the date they are to be released from custody.

This as language and legislative actions against ICE by state lawmakers becomes more fervent on Beacon Hill, with Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell creating a new ICE Misconduct Portal back in March for state residents to report “potentially unlawful activity or misconduct” by federal immigration agents in Massachusetts.

Healey and Campbell have both publicly expressed support for using information collected through the portal to prosecute federal agents conducting immigration enforcement operations in Massachusetts.

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