BOSTON — The Healey administration rolled out new guidance Tuesday for public schools and state-licensed daycare facilities on dealing with visits from federal immigration agents.
Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, said the new restrictions are based on a bill she signed earlier this month that “makes clear that schools and childcare programs are places for children to learn and grow, not places for ICE to target families.
“As families prepare for the new school year, every child should feel safe walking into their classroom and every parent should feel confident dropping them off,” she said in a prepared statement. “These resources give educators and providers the clear guidance they need to put those protections into practice.”
Under the so-called PROTECT Act, civil arrests are prohibited on school property or the state-licensed childcare programs without a judicial warrant or judicial order.
The law also requires covered schools and programs to adopt policies governing interactions with civil law enforcement. Those policies must be in place by Sept. 1. or the first day of school, whichever is earlier, according to the Healey administration.
But the Healey administration said the law protects schools and daycares regardless of whether they have implemented the required policy.
“Students, children and families across Massachusetts deserve to feel safe when they walk through the doors of their school or child care program,” Education Secretary Steve Zrike said in a prepared statement.
“These new resources give schools and early education and care programs clear, practical guidance to implement the PROTECT Act and ensure educators and providers know how to respond to civil immigration enforcement.
“We will continue working with schools and programs across Massachusetts to support them as they put this law into action,” Zrike added.
The new guidance stems from a bill signed by Healey earlier this month that bars U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from pursuing civil arrests at courthouses, schools, houses of worship and prohibits state and local law enforcement from asking about immigration status.
The PROTECT Act effectively makes Massachusetts a “sanctuary state” by codifying and expanding a 2018 Supreme Judicial Court ruling that local police don’t have power to detain people on immigration charges unless they face criminal charges or are the subject of a judicial warrant for their arrest.
Democrats pushed the bill through the legislative process in July on the final day of the formal session over the objections of Republicans, who argued that provisions of the bill were unconstitutional and put the state at risk of a legal challenge by the federal government to block the restrictions.
Passage of the bill comes as the Trump administration threatens to crack down on states that restrict immigration enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security has criticized the state’s push to restrict local law-enforcement from working with federal immigration officials, saying it will make the state less safe and require ICE “to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities.
“Instead of working with us, Massachusetts lawmakers are choosing to RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly back into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims,” DHS said in a recent statement. “Sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety.”
ICE has already targeted the state with several high-profile immigration raids over the past year, including a recent operation that led to the arrest of more than 1,400 “illegal aliens” the agency said have criminal records and ties to transnational organized crime and gangs.
Healey, who is seeking another four-year term in November, shrugged off concerns that the Trump administration will target the state over the new restrictions and said they won’t prevent federal authorities from targeting criminals sought for deportation.
In September, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Boston over its “sanctuary” policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration crackdowns, claiming the city government is shielding “criminal aliens” from deportation.
For more details about the state’s new guidance on ICE interactions for schools and daycare facilities: https://www.mass.gov/protecting-people-from-ice
Christian M. Wade covers Massachusetts state government and politics for CNHI News and North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.