'ICE Needs To Be Stopped': MA Governor Celebrates 'Protect Act' Passage

Gov. Maura Healey hailed the passage of The Protect Act — built largely upon her executive order from earlier this year limiting how federal immigration officials can execute and enforce detentions in schools, courthouses, hospitals and other public buildings — on Wednesday in proclaiming the bill as the "strongest law in the country to protect people from ICE."

"We know what ICE is doing is wrong and it needs to stop," Healey said.

Calling ICE agents "untrained, unqualified and unfit to do the job," she called the bill "a public safety law."

"ICE is making us less safe," she said during a news conference in Chelsea.

• 'Campaign Of Fear': Gov. Healey Sets Guidance For Barring ICE From MA Buildings

The law prohibits warrantless immigrant arrests at courthouses, schools, child care centers, and health care facilities, including hospitals, community health centers and nursing homes. It also allows parents to prearrange guardianship for their children in case they are detained or deported.

It codifies the executive order by limiting civil immigration enforcement in nonpublic areas of state buildings, and requires multilingual guidance on immigration enforcement procedures and individual rights.

• MA Governor Aims To Bar ICE From Schools, Hospitals, Churches, Courthouses With New Order

Healey said in January that her executive order would also make it illegal for National Guard soldiers from other states to be deployed within Massachusetts without the governor's permission.

"We can agree that we need immigration reform in this country," she said on Wednesday. "We can agree that we need controls at the border. 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 the country. Just stopped in its tracks.

"ICE is hurting people. ICE is hurting our communities. ICE is hurting our economy. ICE is hurting our country."

She said ICE activity in the community has lowered school enrollment because of immigrant parental fear of sending their children to school, and its presence in courthouses has prevented witnesses from coming forward to testify in criminal cases.

Healey called ICE part of President Donald Trump's "hateful and racist agenda."

"It's about threatening, antagonizing and terrorizing people," she said, "simply for how they look and, apparently, what they represent."

The law creates a new state law civil rights claim for government officials, including ICE agents, who violate someone's federal constitutional rights. It also establishes new oversight, reporting, and notification requirements for correctional facilities, employers, and state agencies and strengthens protections for crime victims seeking immigration relief.

"If an ICE agent violates your rights in the state of Massachusetts, they will be held accountable," Healey said.

Acting ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Field Office Director David Wesling this week promoted the arrest of two accused sexual criminals, who he said had illegal status, in Fall River and Billerica as part of an ongoing ICE campaign to "prioritize public safety by working tenaciously to remove alleged child sex predators from our New England neighborhoods."

"The arrest of this alleged sex offender from the streets of Massachusetts shows our officers' dedication to the safety and security of our New England communities," he said. "We will not stop finding and arresting dangerous criminal alien offenders."