AFT Massachusetts Stands with State House Efforts to Protect Residents from Ice (January 29, 2026)
AFT Massachusetts joined Governor Maura Healey today as she unveiled an Executive Order to protect Massachusetts residents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who continue to operate with unchecked authority fulfilling the immigration agenda of the White House.
“Masked ICE agents have been raiding communities across the Commonwealth for months, ignoring the Constitution and our basic human rights. Immigrant families are gripped by fear,” said American Federation of Teachers President Jessica Tang. “Children cannot learn if they don't feel safe. These threats take an emotional, psychological, and physical toll on our children and their families.”
For more than thirty years, schools, hospitals, and places of worship were considered “sensitive locations” – places protected from immigration enforcement. Under the Trump Administration, those places have been stripped of these protections, allowing ICE agents to target residents and families at their most vulnerable.
Today’s Executive Order bans ICE agents from entering schools, hospitals, places of worship, local courts, and other state-owned public property to conduct immigration enforcement. ICE would only be permitted in those locations with a judicial warrant.
“Educators are going above and beyond to try to reassure students and families that schools and their surroundings are the safe spaces they are supposed to be,” continued Tang, who was present at today’s announcement. “But that message rings hollow when parents are detained on the way to dropping their child off at school or when students who are here legally are detained and sent out of state. Children fear when they walk out the door, their family might not be there when they return.”
The Governor’s Executive Order takes a number of steps to protect students and families from a federal government that continues to operate above the law:
- Establishes a system for “standby guardianship” allowing parents to designate an alternative guardian that will spring into effect for 30 days in the event they are detained or deported;
- Directs the state to work with public and private schools, child care providers, medical providers, and shelters to make sure that they know their rights and have policies in place for interacting with ICE and knowing how to ask for warrants; and
- Bans state agencies from entering voluntary agreements with federal immigration enforcement.
“What we saw on the ground in Minnesota was inhumane and un-American. No one should be afraid to drop their child off at school or go to the hospital or get essentials at the grocery store because they’re worried about being targeted for the color of their skin,” continued Tang. “We must use every tool at our disposal to safeguard our communities against a federal government that is making our streets more dangerous and dismantling our very democracy. The Governor’s action today is a crucial step in that work. We remain committed to working with the Governor, Legislature, and critical allies to build upon today’s steps and ensure we’re doing everything we can at the state and local level to protect our students and communities.”
The AFT Massachusetts represents educators and public school employees working in many of the state’s Gateway Cities. These districts, including Boston, Lynn, Lawrence, and Chelsea, are seeing significant enrollment drops due to the current immigration climate. Not only do these communities stand to lose generations of students, they face devastating shortfalls in funding due to enrollment declines.
To prevent these catastrophic shortfalls, the AFT Massachusetts is calling on the state to intervene, like it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, and support districts facing enrollment disruptions.
The Fiscal Year 2022 budget included one-time assistance grants for districts facing “pandemic-related disruptions in their enrollment.” Nearly $15 million was provided to 128 districts across the state to help stabilize school budgets during this unprecedented time.
“These communities, which serve disproportionate numbers of immigrant and high-needs students, are already being hit hard by skyrocketing costs while being a frequent target of the White House’s agenda to dismantle public education as we know it,” continued Tang. “The enrollment crisis will bring these districts to the point of no return. We urge the state to take action to ensure all students of the Commonwealth have access to the quality public education and safe schools they deserve.”
BACKGROUND:
AFT MA’s budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2027 are outlined in their recent letter to Governor Healey. It includes a call for the state to use funding from the Fair Share Amendment to provide additional support to districts facing enrollment disruptions, similar to grant funding they provided during the COVID-19 pandemic.