Governor Healey: Massachusetts immigration enforcement approach “is working”, Trump has not been good to his word

Colin A. Young

The detention of Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, the Turkish woman taken from a Somerville sidewalk by masked federal immigration agents last week, has become a focal point for pushback to President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, with some of the loudest opposition coming from activists, labor unions and members of the Congressional delegation.

Gov. Maura Healey, in a TV interview that aired Sunday, continued to take a far more muted approach to the situation while saying that Trump has not been good to his word that immigration actions would focus mainly on criminals. The current model in which state authorities generally cannot hold individuals solely at the request of federal immigration officials “is working,” the governor also said.

Healey told WCVB-TV’s “On The Record” that she knows “really nothing” more than what was in initial reports about Öztürk’s arrest. The apprehension of Öztürk, reportedly here on a legal student visa, was captured on video.

“Obviously, the video is disturbing. And, you know, there are questions about this, real questions about this. We don’t know the circumstances under which this woman was taken. We haven’t had any information provided to us by the Department of Homeland Security,” Healey said in the interview that aired Sunday. “So all I can tell you right now is I continue to be in touch with the attorney general, who is looking at this, and wish we had more information to offer the public.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said, without providing details, that Öztürk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week suggested Öztürk’s detention was due at least in part to her allegedly having helped destabilize the Tufts campus as part of a pro-Palestinian movement last year.

On “On The Record,” Healey said the Öztürk situation and the announcement last week that a law enforcement arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently apprehended 370 people in Massachusetts call into question the Trump administration’s true aims.

“I’m not sure what is going on here, to be honest, because I thought that — and again, we don’t know the circumstances of this — but Donald Trump said that he was going to target criminals and that that was going to be the activity of ICE and Department of Homeland Security. And increasingly, we’re seeing instances that really call that into question here on the ground in Massachusetts,” the former state attorney general said.

Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston said 205 of the people arrested during the March 18-23 operation in Massachusetts “had significant criminal convictions or charges,” but the federal government has released only bare-bones information about the people arrested and the charges they face. Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and others have called on the feds to be more transparent about their actions in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus late last week said the ICE raids “have deeply unsettled communities of color, particularly Black and Latino populations” in Massachusetts.

“Initially framed as part of a federal initiative targeting criminals, terrorist supporters, and members of transnational organized criminal groups, these actions have quickly expanded beyond their stated intent. These arrests go beyond the original scope and have evolved into a tactic to intimidate marginalized communities of color, regardless of immigration status,” the caucus of 26 state lawmakers said in a statement.

The caucus also highlighted Öztürk’s arrest and said it “stands united in condemning the egregious lack of due process she, and countless others like her, are enduring … This Caucus condemns these actions that do not enhance public safety and instead force immigrant communities, victims, and survivors to distrust law enforcement and authorities.”

On Thursday night, Rep. Manny Cruz of Salem took to social media to object to Öztürk’s arrest. 

“This is a gross abuse of the powers of the executive branch. Ms. Ozturk had a student visa removed without due process, was unfairly targeted for protected speech, and was ambushed and transported to a different state to subvert our circuit court,” Cruz wrote on X. “The slippery slope this creates and our increasing descent towards authoritarianism should alarm every American. First they will come for their “political opponents”, immigrants, and then they will justify the false imprisonment of any American who speaks out.”

Rep. John Moran of Boston also made his views known on X. 

“As a graduate of The Fletcher School at Tufts and an elected representative of a proudly diverse MA House district, I am appalled by the anti-American behavior of Trump and his cronies. In America we engage in dialogue, not totalitarian suppression!” he wrote in a post that included a screenshot of Öztürk being detained.

The governor said on “OTR” that she is “very comfortable removing violent offenders from the streets, including those who should not be here, who are here unlawfully.” But she also suggested the state’s laws where immigration and public safety overlap are sufficient.

“I also want to say, though, in Massachusetts, you know, the facts are that we’re among the safest states in the country. We were rated recently, we have the lowest rate of gun deaths, of traffic deaths, we are second in life expectancy nationwide, and we are, I think, third lowest in property thefts. So in this discussion about public safety and what’s going on, I just want to level set with the folks in Massachusetts to let them know what’s actually going on in terms of public safety.”

The governor reiterated in Sunday’s appearance that “we are not a sanctuary state.” She also made clear that she does not see it as her role to get involved in efforts to reshape state law in response to a court ruling that effectively limits cooperation between state officials and federal immigration authorities.

The Supreme Judicial Court’s 2017 Lunn ruling determined that state law “provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer.”

“We have a law in place that’s similar to many laws in place around this country, and it basically says, ‘Look, state law enforcement, you work on crimes, you work on criminal investigations.’ We regularly do investigations with local and federal authorities,” Healey said.

She added, “I support anything to get criminals off the street and to ensure the safety of our communities and our residents. That will be for the Legislature to decide in terms of the Lunn decision. But I just want to be clear about the model that we have right now, and that I think it’s working.”