On Aug. 5, 2026, after months of debate in the Legislature, Gov. Maura Healey signed into law what is said to be the strongest legal protection against ICE in the country.
For those who are not familiar with The PROTECT Act, it is the outcome of widespread concern throughout Massachusetts last year for the rogue behavior of federal agents, who, without due process, kidnapped immigrants with and without legal protective status.
Whatever one’s political position, watching armed and masked men grabbing women from children, men from streets going to work, and activists being gunned down in American cities was an assault on our American values and beliefs. As Homeland Security continued to assert that only criminals were being abducted, the vast numbers of citizens filming incidents and growing statistics defied that claim: frightened people were crying for help while being wrestled to the ground by men with guns. Our America was, and is, being drained of entire neighborhoods of families who have paid taxes, built businesses, become part of communities and educated their children, all to attain what once was the American Dream. Deportations continue, without due process. Few bonds are posted, few hearings scheduled and the majority of people taken disappear into countries paid to take them. For many of us, this speaks too loudly of the loss of our democracy and the triumph of an authoritarian government that no one voted for; No one! Both parties must claim responsibility for never enacting viable immigration laws, but those impacted do not deserve this treatment.
Now we have The PROTECT Act. State Attorney General Campbell issued guidelines, as mandated by law, to state and local institutions, courthouses, childcare facilities, schools, healthcare, and state and local police and sheriffs departments to be in compliance and develop training through Nov. 4. The details are available through government websites.
Though all of these areas are of importance for our communities, how the Act is implemented by our Police Departments and Hampshire Sheriff are of primary importance now. The presence of ICE in Northampton, while not publicized, has been verified; a number of people have been “disappeared” over the past months.
While our elected officials always assert that our police are well trained and “the best,” what may have been true in the past cannot be so at this point in time. At a recent Senior Center meeting where a very knowledgeable and forthcoming officer answered questions, we learned that the current police training, in compliance with the Act, is composed of two pages, with very brief explanations of the new law and brief examples of what police may not do. To complete this training, officers must read and sign the two pages. Hopefully, this is not the complete training, but just preliminary. However, nowhere is there an explanation of what officers must do when ICE agents violate state criminal laws, which they do consistently. John Bonifaz, attorney in Amherst and co-founder and president of Free Speech for People, has spoken widely on the need for our elected officials to publicly assert that if ICE breaks state criminal law in the commonwealth, they will be arrested and prosecuted. Federal agents do not have total immunity, though many believe that they do. They cannot be federally pardoned if convicted of a state criminal crime. In the rare instance when a police officer has been federally charged for interference, courts have dismissed the cases.
This is undeniably a difficult area, and one that most police departments feel is out of their jurisdiction. It would require sensitive training of officers, and strong backing by the mayor and police chief. But without the authority to assist or even intervene when an ICE agent illegally breaks down a door, refuses to show a judicial warrant, or accosts an activist filming an interaction, we, as citizens, and all immigrants, legal or not, are left without the public protection we have historically counted on. Without the thoughtful and individual training needed for officers, we will have given our city over to lawlessness, with the disclaimer that there was nothing we could do! For those who believe that we live in a “blue bubble,” becoming aware of the quiet removal of 7,000 people across our state must be a warning that we need to be prepared as well.
This is not the Northampton I moved to seven years ago; the town I have valued for the warmth, openness, intelligence and dedication to fairness of all who I have met — without exception.
Let us all educate ourselves to the provisions in The PROTECT Act, encourage and support our mayor and city council to work with the police chief to deepen and broaden what is needed from them now, and to develop training to fully educate them on their important roles in this new and challenging world.
Janet Q. Nelson lives in Northampton.