Massachusetts Senate to pass sweeping immigrant protection bill

BY ELLA ADAMS

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, April 30, 2026…..Senate Democrats plan to pass their version of the PROTECT Act Thursday in an expanded version of the House’s March immigration bill.

A House version of the bill designed to protect immigrants from some types of federal immigration law enforcement passed 134-21 on March 25.

The Senate held its session open Thursday for more than four hours before a Senate Ways and Means proposal (S 3072) emerged with a 15-1 endorsement vote from that panel. Amendments to the bill are due on Monday.

The House bill (H 5316) was based on a draft by the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. The House bill blocks federal agents from making civil arrests at courthouses. Gov. Maura Healey’s proposal in January looked to shield additional places, including schools, health care facilities and houses of worship. 

The Senate committee bill would restrict civil arrests, including federal civil immigration arrests, not just in state courts but in child care facilities, public schools, houses of worship, and health care providers. The bill also establishes “a state-level cause of action against federal officers for any deprivation of rights, privileges or immunities under the United States Constitution.”

One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Adam Gómez, said some have been calling it “the PROTECT Act-Plus.”

The bill would ban law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts from entering into new 287(g) agreements, or formal agreements that deputize local officers to carry out federal duties. The Department of Correction operates the state’s only 287(g) agreement.

Like Healey’s bill, it allows parents to pre-arrange guardianship for their children in case they are detained or deported.  

The proposal prohibits, with exemptions, state and local law enforcement officers from inquiring about, recording or maintaining a person’s citizenship or immigration status. Law enforcement would also be barred from using state or local resources for federal civil immigration enforcement, from conducting or participating in federal civil immigration enforcement, and from “stopping, arresting, searching, seizing or detaining” a person based on their “actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status.” 

The bill prohibits law enforcement also from detaining people based on an immigration detainer past the time they would otherwise be eligible for release from custody, per the summary. They wouldn’t be able to transport anyone into an immigration agent’s custody unless in accordance with a valid judicial warrant, and couldn’t provide non-public personal information and other information to a federal immigration authority. 

Within 48 hours of receiving federal notice of I-9 employment enforcements, the bill would also require employers to provide notice to employees. 

“The actions of federal immigration enforcement officials, at the direction of President Trump and Congressional Republicans, have brought fear and chaos to neighborhoods across Massachusetts and our nation,” the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy said in a statement in an email that came from committee chair Sen. Cindy Friedman’s office. “These actions must be met with a policy response that makes clear that we will defend both the people and the values of this Commonwealth.”

The bill also includes measures designed to ensure that immigrant victims of certain criminal activities — including trafficking — who help as witnesses have their special visa applications “appropriately processed” by state certifying entities, according to the summary. 

Sens. Liz Miranda, Gómez, Lydia Edwards, Sal DiDomenico, Pavel Payano, Bill Driscoll, Barry Finegold, Robyn Kennedy, Jason Lewis, Becca Rausch, Michael Barrett, Nick Collins and Pat Jehlen are listed as sponsors.

The bill also prohibits a military force from another state from entering Massachusetts without permission of the governor unless otherwise authorized, and establishes “a state civil violation” for violations of federal laws pertaining to election poll protections. 

When Healey unveiled her plan, Senate President Karen Spilka pledged swift action on “measures that we feel are necessary to defend the safety, dignity, and rights of our residents.” She proclaimed in January that “the Senate will do everything in its power to return these proposals to your desk for your signature – soon.”

Nearly 60 organizations that make up the People’s PROTECT Act Coalition rallied Monday to call on the Senate to boost the House’s bill by ending “harmful” collaboration with ICE, expanding access to optional virtual court proceedings and improving the visa certification process for certain crime victims.

Once the bill clears the Senate, it will be up to a six-person conference committee to come up with a single bill to send to Healey’s desk. 

Ella Adams is a reporter for the State House News Service and State Affairs Massachusetts. Reach her at ella.adams@statehousenews.com.