Gov. Healey issues statewide guidance on 'interacting with ICE agents'

Tim Dunn, Boston Herald on May 28, 2026

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Gov. Maura Healey issued statewide guidance during a Thursday press conference for illegal immigrants and the schools, child care providers, health care facilities and more supporting them on “interacting with ICE agents” as part of an executive order she signed earlier this year.

Healey says the guidance, which is posted online and will be erected in public areas and on public buildings, will instruct illegal immigrants on how to deny ICE access to their workplaces, homes and other areas she deems as “vulnerable.”

“Today we issue this guidance, as I said I would when I issued that executive order, to give clear instruction to those places: our hospitals, our day care centers, our schools, and our places of worship so that they have the information and understand their rights. This is about, simply put, keeping people safe in Massachusetts,” Healey said in a Thursday press conference.

“I wish we didn’t have to be here today to continue to defend our residents from unlawful and harmful actions by federal agents. But the Trump administration and ICE have shown no signs of changing course,” she said.

The guidance instructs illegal immigrants and residents supporting them on various methods of avoiding detainment by ICE, including what a legal and authentic judicial warrant looks like, what their rights are under Massachusetts and federal law regarding detainment and cooperation on civil immigration arrests, where to find state resources and legal representation, and more.

It comes as part of an executive order she signed back in January that also prohibits ICE from making civil arrests in non-public areas of state facilities, bans the use of state property for immigration enforcement staging, and outlaws any new 287(g) agreements in Massachusetts.

“Our teams are doing outreach and have been doing outreach to make sure that community organizations have this information, have the training, and can put it into effect. We’re also posting public-facing guidance on our state property to make it really clear that ICE is to stay out,” Healey continued.

Healey also launched an attack on President Trump and his cabinet, arguing that the the state’s relationship with the federal government has been “ruined,” by the Trump administration.

“The relationship between the state and the federal government used to work, but that’s completely broken right now. You see what ICE is doing and what ICE continues to do. It’s a campaign of fear, it’s meant to intimidate, and it has real ramifications for people here,” Healey said.

But when asked by the Herald if she feels that any of her actions against the administration, including executive orders limiting ICE capabilities in the state, banning ICE from obtaining undercover license plates, and her refusal to submit data requested by the USDA on Massachusetts SNAP recipients, among others, has contributed to the strained relationship. The governor deflected to a rant about a DOJ lawsuit filed Wednesday over her refusal to reverse a RMV policy banning ICE from obtaining undercover license plates.

“I absolutely have something to contribute, and that is a reminder that as a governor and an elected official with responsibility to uphold the rule of law, that there are things that are legal and there are things that are illegal,” Healey responded.

“And right now, having been sued last night by the Department of Justice that signed off on a deal to give the January 6th folks $2 billion, that’s who I’m getting sued by, to be clear,” she continued. “But it’s a sad state of affairs when the Trump administration, and particularly through DHS and ICE, continues to do things that are unconstitutional. So, yeah, damn right I have a responsibility to stand up and to explain to the public what’s really going on and to take action to protect the rule of law.”

This comes as Healey, along with several of the state’s political leaders, have ramped up anti-ICE legislation and rhetoric, with the Protect Act recently passing both the House and Senate.

It also comes just months after Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell launched a new online ICE Misconduct Portal with Attorney General Andrea Campbell.

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