Mass. House plans to vote on bill banning warrantless civil immigration arrests in courthouses

Massachusetts House lawmakers will vote this spring on legislation to ban warrantless civil immigration arrests at courthouses and prohibit local law enforcement officers from initiating contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in some instances.

The bill could draw pushback from some Republicans at the State House. But it's largely expected to pass in the House because it has the backing of the chamber’s Democratic leadership, including House Speaker Ron Mariano and his top deputies.

“We're limited in what we can do. We can't supersede federal law. We can't run the immigration program. But we can make sure, and we will make sure, that everyone who sets foot in this Commonwealth who doesn't have a criminal record is treated fairly and treated the same as any other person who was born in this state,” Mariano said Thursday afternoon.

The legislation is wide-ranging. It places limits on deals that allow local law enforcement authorities to enforce federal immigration laws, ensures that people in jails have access to lawyers and prohibits local police officers in towns and cities across the state from asking people their immigration status.

The proposal also would ban federal agents from making civil immigration arrests at courthouses unless they have a warrant or judicial order. An arrest or detention that violates this section of the bill constitutes “contempt of court and false imprisonment,” the text of the measure says.

Rep. Dan Cahill, co-chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, said ICE activity inside local courthouses has “caused tremendous harm to our judicial process.”

“What kind of society are we living in when people are afraid to go to the one place that they know they can seek justice? Well, we're not going to allow that to happen here in Massachusetts. It's disruptive. It's wrong,” Cahill said.

Cahill, a Lynn Democrat, said lawmakers will leave it to the attorney general’s office to decide whether to prosecute federal immigration officers who do not adhere to the language of the bill.

Cahill said the House will take up the bill by "sometime in April.”

The bill also would ban state and local law enforcement officers from initiating contact with "any federal authority” to provide nonpublic personal information to immigration agents.

Cahill said those restrictions will help prevent state or local resources from being used to assist in civil immigration matters.

“This has nothing to do with our process of working with ICE on judicial warrants or folks who have been convicted of crimes and have been sought out to be removed. Those processes stay in place,” he said.

Immigration advocates have been increasing political pressure on Beacon Hill lawmakers to enact reforms amid President Trump’s sweeping immigration raids across the country, including two operations last year in Massachusetts that netted thousands of arrests.

In recent months, state House and Senate lawmakers, as well as Gov. Maura Healey, have rallied around versions of a ban on warrantless civil immigration arrests at courthouses. Healey has filed her own bill targeting ICE operations in Massachusetts.

The legislation that the House plans to vote on this spring was crafted by the 26-member Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.

Rep. Andy Vargas, a Haverhill Democrat and chair of the caucus, said the bill needed to have “tangible impact,” not just serve as a “value statement.”

“We did that because we believe the Commonwealth needed a serious response, not a feel-good moment, but serious policy,” he said.