House lawmakers send bill to Senate on restricting ICE from Mass. courthouses

Massachusetts House lawmakers passed legislation 134-21 Wednesday to ban warrantless civil immigration arrests in courthouses, bar local law enforcement from asking about immigration status and ban new agreements that allow local authorities to enforce federal immigration laws.

The proposal is one of the Legislature's first responses to immigration crackdowns during President Trump’s second term, and to increasing pressure on Beacon Hill to restrict the work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the state.

Rep. Andy Vargas, a Haverhill Democrat and chair of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, said the bill makes clear that Massachusetts will not “volunteer” its local law enforcement to help enforce federal immigration laws.

“This bill does not prevent a single criminal arrest. It does not interfere with judicial warrants. It does not alter our obligations under federal law,” he said from the floor of the House. "What it does is make certain that a victim of domestic violence can walk into a courthouse to seek a protective order without fearing she will be the one taken into custody."

The bill was crafted by the Legislature’s Black and Latino Caucus just as the Trump administration conducted two immigration enforcement operations in Massachusetts that netted thousands of arrests.

Democratic lawmakers on Beacon Hill took up the measure after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens during immigration raids in Minnesota. Following the deaths, local immigration advocates demanded action from Massachusetts elected officials to place new limits on ICE agents’ ability to operate here.

The wide-ranging proposal puts in place new rules at correction facilities, like requiring officials to give a person a notice of their legal rights in their primary language during intake and provide interpretation services for “key interactions.”

The bill prohibits law enforcement from asking about someone’s immigration status unless the information is directly related to a criminal offense, and bars local authorities from sharing nonpublic information about someone’s release from jail or prison with federal agents.

The bill would also ban federal agents from making civil immigration arrests inside courthouses unless they have a judicial warrant or order that is reviewed by a “judicial official” like a judge. Civil arrests are prohibited inside courtrooms unless there is an “extraordinary circumstance.”

Rep. Dan Cahill, a Lynn Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, said people “descend upon courthouses” to have decisions made of the most intimate details of their lives — adoptions, divorces, child custody and criminal matters.

“We want to ensure that here in Massachusetts, our courthouses are a place where people can find justice and due process without fear of intervention of any other agency, especially if there's an issue over a civil immigration matter,” he said.

Massachusetts Trial Court Chief Justice Heidi Brieger and Court Administrator Thomas Ambrosino said there were at least 614 ICE arrests last year in courthouses across the state, and another 137 ICE arrests since the start of the year.

In a letter to Cahill, Brieger and Ambrosino said they supported barring civil immigration arrests in courthouses.

“We believe prohibiting ICE arrests within the courthouse will allow the Judicial Branch to operate free from external interference and ensure that our courthouses remain safe and accessible to all court users,” Breiger and Ambrosino said.

Rep. Judith Garcia, a Chelsea Democrat, said people in Massachusetts “are afraid to walk into a courthouse.”

“They're afraid to resolve a case, to seek protection, to testify, because they do not know what will happen to them once they step inside that courtroom. So they stay silent, they withdraw, they accept harm rather than risk something worse, that should trouble everyone in this room. This is not what justice looks like,” Garcia said.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where top lawmakers have indicated they'll add additional immigration-related measures. The two branches will need to reconcile any differences before sending a bill to Gov. Maura Healey for her approval.

Vargas said members of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus in the Senate “played an active role in the development” of the bill. But he did not speculate on how it would be received in the chamber.

“I can't speak for the Senate,” he told reporters before the House began its debate.