Gov. Maura Healey signs PROTECT Act to expand immigrant protections

CHELSEA – It was hard to tell whether Gov. Maura Healey hosted a party or bill signing ceremony when she signed legislation Wednesday that the governor and lawmakers say provides the strongest immigrant protections in the country. 

A band played and while Healey gave her remarks, the governor’s voice repeatedly drowned out by the cheers of dozens of supporters who packed into a hot, crowded room. 

The new law (H 5620), known as the PROTECT Act, arose as a top priority for lawmakers and the governor amid intensified immigration law enforcement efforts led by President Donald Trump. The law expands protections against warrantless civil immigration arrests at courthouses as well as public schools, childcare centers and healthcare facilities. 

“I think we can agree that we need immigration reform in this country. We can agree 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 this country,” Healey said during a bill signing ceremony in Chelsea at La Colaborativa, a nonprofit focused on supporting immigrants.

Healey, a Democrat seeking reelection this year, called Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics “cruel, unconstitutional, un-American; It is so stupid.”

She also referenced Trump’s recent decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

By ramping up immigration enforcement actions, Trump is pursuing campaign promises he made to increase deportations as part of an effort to reduce crime and crack down on illegal immigration. Protests have unfolded across the country in response to the increasingly violent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

“Today in Massachusetts, we’re saying enough is enough. We’re standing up for what’s right, and we’re taking action to protect people’s safety,” Healey said. “The PROTECT Act is the strongest law in the country to protect people from ICE and to protect public safety.”

Fidel Maltez, Chelsea’s city manager, said the law offers relief to many in the community who have been afraid to go to work, school and other locations over fears of running into ICE agents. Chelsea has among the highest foreign-born populations in Massachusetts, with latest U.S. Census numbers showing about 46% of the city’s residents are immigrants.

“We in the city have seen the cost of that fear: empty classroom seats, neighbors who have left the state, businesses that have shuttered, and trust broken between residents and our institutions that are meant to protect them. But today, today that changes. Today our governor makes history. Today the PROTECT Act becomes the law of the land,” Maltez said to a roaring round of applause.

The sweeping legislation also codifies the Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court 2017 Lunn v. Commonwealth decision that found there is “no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer.” It prohibits new agreements allowing state and local officials to perform certain federal immigration enforcement actions while preserving the Department of Correction’s existing agreement with ICE. 

The law allows parents to arrange guardianship for their children in case they are detained, and creates a civil cause of action against federal law enforcement officers who violate a resident’s constitutional rights. 

Under an emergency preamble lawmakers attached to the bill, the sweeping law will go into effect immediately. 

While supporters celebrated the bill’s signing on Wednesday, opponents have raised concerns.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve issued a statement saying that by signing the bill, Healey “prioritizes politics over public safety,” as the law will limit cooperation between state and federal law enforcement officers. 

“Governor Healey’s decision to sign the PROTECT Act is driven by politics, not public safety,” Shortsleeve said. “There is no safer or more secure place for state authorities to transfer a criminal into federal custody than a courthouse and this law bars that from happening. Instead, this law creates new barriers to cooperation and sends the wrong message at the wrong time.”

Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform (MCIR) said the law “is an ill-advised measure that assigns a higher priority to ideology than to public safety” and “by any measure illegal immigration is economically and socially harmful.”

“By preventing [law enforcement agencies] from communicating with ICE concerning persons in custody, the PROTECT law in effect protects criminal aliens who should otherwise be deported,” the group said in a press release issued Wednesday. “MCIR believes that ICE agents deserve our support in performing the critical, difficult, and often dangerous task of securing our borders and protecting Americans from terrorists and criminal aliens.”

The Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network applauded the bill’s enactment and called for more protections for immigrants.

Among the group’s requests were: banning all 287(g) agreements in the state, including the DOC’s, and ending institutions that share information among different levels of law enforcement. Also, the group said immigrant communities, like Muslim and Asian American and Pacific Islanders, were left out of some conversations.

“For too long, we have seen how the voices and experiences of current and formerly incarcerated immigrants are erased from policy because of criminal carveouts and the PROTECT Act is no exception,” the group said in a July 31 press release. “This approach reinforces the very systems that have long placed immigrants at greater risk of detention and deportation.”

Healey emphasized the law as a public safety measure. The governor also said the conversation surrounding immigrant protections is not finished.

“There will be ugliness coming out of today. There will be ugly rhetoric. There will be meanness. There will be cruelty. There will be racist tirades. You see it online and elsewhere,” she said. “Okay, listen. We’ll be strong. We’ll be tough. We know what’s right. We know how to protect ourselves. We know how to protect public safety, and we know what we need to do because we know how terrible, terrible ICE has been in Massachusetts and around this country, and this is about stopping it.”

Before signing the law, Healey issued a statement Wednesday morning calling on ICE agents to keep their vehicles out of Boston in response to NBC 10 reporting that ICE was looking to lease 249 parking spots downtown.