U.S. ICE Director, U.S. Attorney, respond after Governor Healey demands transparency from ICE on arrests in Massachusetts 

BOSTON – Governor Maura Healey today sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary and Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons demanding what she states is full transparency and accountability about ICE arrests and detention practices in Massachusetts. 

Governor Healey is demanding that ICE provide, in one week, complete and accurate information on every person arrested in Massachusetts since January 2025, including the identity of each individual, the legal basis for each arrest, case status, detention location, court jurisdiction, and upcoming hearing dates. 

In the letter, Governor Healey challenges ICE’s claims that it is targeting the “worst of the worst,” citing the agency’s public data showing that the majority of individuals arrested in Massachusetts have no criminal history. 

“Many of those taken into custody are long-standing members of our communities—parents, caregivers, and workers whose sudden detention leaves their families in crisis,” Governor Healey wrote. “This has had far-reaching consequences for their children, families, our communities, and the state of Massachusetts.”  

Healey says that according to ICE’s own public statements, a May 2025 surge operation known as “Operation Patriot” resulted in 1,461 arrests in Massachusetts, yet 46 percent of those detained had no criminal charges or convictions. A second surge operation in September 2025, “Operation Patriot 2.0,” resulted in 1,406 arrests, with approximately 57 percent of those detained having no criminal background. ICE has released limited public information about only a small fraction of those individuals. 

The letter also describes specific cases that have been reported to the administration, including an 18-year-old high school honors student with no criminal record arrested while driving to volleyball practice; a mother of a quadriplegic child detained while going to work despite having an asylum application pending; a father with no known criminal history arrested at his worksite and transferred out of state away from his young children; a young man with no criminal record arrested outside of a local grocery store as a “collateral” arrest while standing near another individual ICE was targeting; and a father who lived in the United States for more than 20 years and was detained and transferred out of state, leaving behind two U.S. citizen children. Governor Healey states that her administration has been unable to independently verify the full details of these cases because ICE has not provided information to state or local officials. 

Fall River Reporter asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement for their response to Healey’s letter, and they issued a joint statement from U.S. ICE Director Todd Lyons and U.S. Attorney Leah Foley.

“Isn’t it rich that the very governor who refuses to share information with federal law enforcement is now demanding information on ICE arrests? She forgets that being in the country illegally is, in fact, illegal.

The truth is every single alien arrested during Operations Patriot and Patriot 2.0 was in violation of U.S. immigration law. The majority of those had committed serious crimes in the United States or in their native countries. Most were released due to local and state jurisdictions refusing to cooperate with ICE.

Why does Governor Healey wish to impede ICE from removing criminal illegal aliens from the Bay State?

In Massachusetts, Operations Patriot and Patriot 2.0 resulted in more than 2,860 arrests of criminal illegal aliens many of whom were let into the country under President Biden. Governor Healey should stop using her pulpit to smear ICE and bully private companies. Instead, she should start working with the Trump Administration to put Americans citizens first and keep our New England communities safe from criminal alien offenders.”

Governor Healey has filed legislation to keep ICE out of locations she deems sensitive including courthouses, schools, childcare programs, hospitals, and places of worship. She also signed an executive order directing state agencies to require judicial warrants for entry into non-public areas of state facilities, limiting the use of state resources for civil immigration enforcement, and restricting participation in federal 287(g) agreements absent a clear public safety need.