BOSTON – Gov. Maura Healey announced on Friday yet another regional defiance to President Trump’s enforcement on immigration law, inviting Massachusetts residents to surveil federal law enforcement.
In an announcement video on X, Gov. Healey outlined her new initiative in combatting immigration enforcement by directing residents to a new state website form encouraging them to document events, collect information, and additional provision of legal resources.
The tool is hosted at the Massachusetts state website and allows submissions that are routed directly to the offices of Healey, as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conduct operations nationwide under the Trump administration. mass.gov/forms/report-misconduct-by-federal-agents
The form states that information collected will be used to “identify patterns of potential misconduct,” — which allows users to report incidents involving themselves or others — claiming the page is solely for federal agent misconduct reporting,
While Healey has historically claimed Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state, a law recently upheld by the state Supreme Judicial Court restricts local police from assisting their federal counterparts without “additional authority”. In January, she filed legislation that restricts arrests by ICE agents in courthouses and limits enforcement in schools, hospitals, churches, and daycares.
This is nothing new in New England, as similar tactics are employed just across the border in Maine, as Secretary of State Shenna Bellows recently moved to ban federal law enforcement from polling stations. The idea to report on ICE is also not of original conceptualization by Gov. Healey as just recently, Mainers were advised by the Maine District Attorney’s office to report on federal agents, as well.
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Interesting to see Maura Healey take this step. I’m curious about how it will impact transparency with federal agents.