When MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell asked Healey if the Massachusetts State Police would be enlisted in helping realize the deportation efforts, Healey said: “No. Absolutely not.”
“Every tool in the toolbox has got to be used to protect our citizens, to protect our residents, and protect our states, and certainly to hold the line on democracy and the rule of law,” Healey said in comments on MSNBC this week, after Trump won the presidential election.
Governor Maura Healey said Wednesday that her administration is committed to protecting Massachusetts residents from the mass deportations of undocumented immigrants that President-elect Donald Trump has promised .
Healey said state officials here and across the country may have to use additional resources to keep their residents from harm, including their regulatory authority, executive powers, and state legislation.
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A State Police spokesperson said enforcing federal immigration law “is not a mission of the Massachusetts State Police,” and added that troopers are actually barred by a court decision from taking part in enforcement that relies solely on a federal immigration detainer request and not allegations of a crime being committed.
Anti-immigrant rhetoric was a dominant theme of Trump’s campaign. He repeatedly has vowed to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, and to undertake large-scale immigration enforcement sweeps across the country, enlisting local law enforcement to help carry that out. In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump said that his administration would have “no choice” but to forge ahead with deportations, adding that there would be “no price tag” to deliver on this promise.
Healey’s defiant tone echoed that of then-Mayor Martin J. Walsh eight years ago after Trump had begun his first term as president. Walsh made national news by declaring he would shelter undocumented immigrants in Boston City Hall as a last resort, though that never happened.
Boston was one of multiple municipalities that passed or strengthened laws that restrict local law enforcement from working with federal immigration enforcement. Other “sanctuary city” communities in the Boston area include Chelsea, Somerville, and Cambridge.
In 2017, the state’s highest court upheld those laws, stating that court officers should not hold someone solely on the basis of a federal immigration detainer request. The Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling was seen as the first by a state high court to forbid local authorities from enforcing federal immigration laws, and it’s what State Police cited this week in responding to the new questions over enforcement.
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That same year, Healey, then the state’s attorney general, began to elevate her political profile by challenging Trump administration policies through dozens of lawsuits. That included joining in a lawsuit by the ACLU against Trump’s so-called Muslim ban, which restricted immigration from certain majority-Muslim countries.
In April 2019, Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph was federally indicted on charges that she thwarted efforts by federal agents to take an undocumented immigrant into custody. The charges were dropped in 2022 after she struck a deal with federal prosecutors in President Biden’s Department of Justice. She’s now hearing cases in the Boston Municipal Court system, according to court records.
State House and Senate Republicans filed a bill in October that would let state courts honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers, particularly in cases where individuals are arrested for violent crimes.
Tom Hodgson, the chair of the Trump campaign in Massachusetts, called Healey’s comments “not at all surprising.”
“We need to strengthen our collaborations, not make them weaker,” said Hodgson, the former Bristol County sheriff.
He said it is crucial to give local and state law enforcement the training necessary to involve them in deportation raids since they know the communities well and can target people who are high priority.
A recent poll from Suffolk University and The Boston Globe showed that about one-third of Massachusetts residents strongly agree or somewhat agree with deporting unauthorized immigrants, but a strong majority disapproves of the idea.
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Carol Rose, the executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said the ACLU appreciated Healey signaling that her administration would not lend a hand to Trump’s deportation plans.
“Massachusetts should not lift a finger or spend a penny assisting deportations efforts. Legislators and municipal leaders should follow suit by taking steps now to ensure against cooperating with ICE,” Rose said in a statement to the Globe. “At every level of government, Massachusetts must immediately get to work building firewalls for freedom and supporting a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system.”
Samantha Gross of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio can be reached at giulia.mcdnr@globe.com. Follow her @giuliamcdnr. Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.