Healey issues new ICE guidance for schools, hospitals, and places of worship

The guidance issued by Gov. Maura Healey instructs schools, health care facilities, and places of worship on how to interact with ICE agents. Institutions should designate specific employees as primary points of contact for ICE. They should protect confidential information and create standards for documenting ICE interactions. The guidance also requires federal agents to present judicial warrants before entering nonpublic areas. Healey said residents face unlawful and harmful actions by federal agents and that federal agencies have not changed course. The guidance is required under a January executive order that restricts ICE civil arrests in nonpublic areas of state buildings, bans use of state property for immigration enforcement staging, and prohibits new 287(g) agreements. Legislation to prevent ICE officers from operating in schools, hospitals, and places of worship is also being reconciled between state chambers.

"Broadly, the guidance recommends that these institutions designate certain employees as primary points of contact for ICE, protect confidential information, create standards for documenting ICE interactions, and demand that federal agents present judicial warrants before entering nonpublic areas."

"The guidance was required under an executive order Healey signed in January. That order prohibited ICE from making civil arrests in nonpublic areas of state buildings and banned the use of state property for staging immigration enforcement operations. It also prohibited any agencies under the executive branch from entering into new 287(g) agreements with the federal government."

"Alongside the executive order, Healey unveiled legislation earlier this year to prevent ICE officers from operating in schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Different versions of the legislation passed through the state Senate and the House in recent months, and lawmakers from both chambers are currently working to reconcile these differences before a final version can be sent to Healey's desk."

"At a press conference Thursday, Healey blamed ICE for "storming" into neighborhoods, separating parents from their children, assaulting protesters, and detaining lawful residents. The fede"

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