Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation Wednesday restricting where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can conduct enforcement activities, barring access to schools, daycares, hospitals, community health centers, nursing homes and courthouses while allowing parents facing detention or deportation to arrange guardianship for their children in advance.
Healey signed the Protect Act during a ceremony in Chelsea, describing it as the strongest state law of its kind. She said the measure was prompted by growing fear among immigrant communities, arguing that ICE enforcement has discouraged children from attending school, patients from seeking medical care and witnesses or victims from appearing in court.
"The law I'm signing today is a public safety law," Healey said, adding that while immigration reform and border security are needed, "ICE is so wrong in what it's doing and ICE needs to be stopped," as CBS News reports.
The Department of Homeland Security criticized the measure through a statement to the news site, arguing it would make communities less safe. A spokesperson accused Massachusetts lawmakers of "choosing to RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly back into our communities" and said limiting cooperation with ICE forces federal agents to maintain a more visible presence.
The law comes as federal immigration enforcement has intensified across the country. Preliminary Department of Homeland Security data obtained by CBS News showed ICE detained more than 46,000 people facing deportation in July, the highest monthly total of President Donald Trump's second term.
Speaking on MSNBC's Morning Joe a day earlier, Healey also defended Haitian immigrants with Temporary Protected Status, saying Massachusetts is home to about 45,000 Haitian TPS holders, many of whom work in hospitals and nursing homes. "They are probably the caregiver taking care of your parents in their home right now," she said, calling the administration's immigration policies "fundamentally stupid."
“These people are going to lose their jobs. Families are going to lose their caregivers. Nursing homes and hospitals are going to face even greater staffing shortages.”@MassGovernor Maura Healey speaking to @msnow’s @Morning_Joe about the Trump administration ending TPS for… pic.twitter.com/Pd2qn3qg1N
— StudiGo (@StudiGo_LLC) August 7, 2026
Healey's comments come as debate continues over the Trump administration's effort to end TPS protections for Haitians. Earlier this week, a bipartisan congressional delegation returning from Haiti said conditions remained too dangerous for large-scale deportations.
Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., who visited Port-au-Prince, said ending TPS now would be "a disaster," citing widespread gang violence, ongoing displacement and the risk that deportees could become targets for kidnapping. The administration has maintained that Haiti's TPS designation has ended while litigation over the policy continues.
