Healey Issues Statewide ICE Guidance for Schools, Hospitals, Higher Ed, Child Care, and Places of Worship: What Massachusetts Immigrants Should Know

The Headline

On Thursday, May 28, 2026, Governor Maura Healey released statewide operational guidance for schools, child care providers, colleges and universities, health care facilities, and places of worship on how to interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The guidance was required under an Executive Order that Governor Healey signed earlier this year. That Executive Order prohibited new 287(g) agreements, prohibited ICE from making civil arrests in nonpublic areas of state Executive Branch facilities, and prohibited the use of state property to stage or conduct civil immigration enforcement operations. The May 28 guidance puts the Executive Order into operational form for state-licensed and state-funded providers.

For the Massachusetts humanitarian immigration practice, this guidance matters most directly to the Brazilian families concentrated in Framingham, Marlborough, Milford, Everett, Lowell, and Worcester; to the Haitian families in Boston, Brockton, Mattapan, Everett, and Randolph; to the Cape Verdean families in Brockton, Dorchester, and New Bedford; to the Salvadoran, Honduran, and Guatemalan families in Chelsea, East Boston, Lynn, Lowell, and Lawrence; and to every immigrant household across the Commonwealth that has a child in a public school, a member in a hospital bed, a relative in a nursing home, a parishioner in a sanctuary, or a student in a Massachusetts college or university dormitory.

What the Guidance Covers

The guidance applies to five categories of provider: K-12 schools (public and private), child care providers, public and private colleges and universities, health care providers and facilities, and places of worship. Each category receives its own operational recommendations. A separate public-facing piece covers state Executive Branch facilities and state property.

Across all five provider categories, four recommendations recur. First, route interactions with federal immigration officers through designated administrators or trained staff, so the first person an ICE officer encounters is not a teacher, a nurse, a receptionist, or a volunteer with no training. Second, require legal review of warrants or requests for access before taking action. Third, decline access to nonpublic areas (classrooms, offices, dormitories, exam rooms, sanctuaries, nurseries) unless presented with a valid judicial warrant or judicial order. Fourth, document interactions and follow internal reporting protocols.

The guidance also clarifies the legal point that drives every other recommendation: administrative warrants issued by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security do not authorize entry into nonpublic spaces. Only a judicial warrant or court order, signed by a federal or state judge, authorizes that entry. The distinction is set out in federal case law, including In re Sealed Case, 832 F.3d 1268 (D.C. Cir. 2016), and in the Fourth Amendment cases that govern entry into private spaces.

Administrative Warrant vs. Judicial Warrant

The two-warrant distinction is the legal backbone of the guidance. It is also the most common point of confusion at the door. Here is how to tell them apart.

An administrative warrant is a document signed by an ICE officer. The most common forms are Form I-200, the warrant for arrest of alien, and Form I-205, the warrant of removal/deportation. The signature line at the bottom identifies an immigration officer, a deportation officer, or a supervisory ICE official, never a judge. An administrative warrant is the legal authority for ICE to take a person into custody where ICE finds the person in a public place or with consent. An administrative warrant is not a search warrant. It does not authorize entry into a private home, a private school office, a private exam room, a private classroom, a private dormitory, a private nursery, a private church office, or any other nonpublic space without consent from someone who has the authority to give it.

A judicial warrant or court order is a document signed by a federal judge, a federal magistrate judge, or a state judge. A federal Rule 41 search warrant is the most common form. The signature line at the bottom identifies a judge or magistrate judge. A judicial warrant identifies the specific place to be searched and the specific items to be seized. A judicial warrant authorizes entry consistent with its terms.

The guidance tells designated administrators at schools, child care centers, hospitals, colleges, and churches to take the warrant at the door, read it carefully, identify the signer, and treat the document as a judicial warrant only if it is in fact signed by a judge. If the document is an administrative warrant, the designated administrator may decline entry to nonpublic spaces and may ask the officers to remain in publicly accessible areas while the institution consults counsel.

Schools, Child Care Providers, and Higher Education

For K-12 schools, child care providers, and higher education institutions, the guidance recommends the following operational practices.

Route interactions with federal immigration officers through designated administrators or trained staff. The first responder at the door should not be a classroom teacher, a paraprofessional, an administrative assistant, or a residence-hall student worker. The designated administrator should be a superintendent, a principal, a head of school, a dean of students, a chief of campus police, a general counsel, or a senior official trained on the distinction between administrative and judicial warrants. Every school and college should have at least one such designated administrator on duty during operating hours.

Require legal review of warrants or requests for access before taking action. The designated administrator should have a number for school district counsel or college general counsel and should call before granting access to any nonpublic area. Massachusetts public school districts can call the Office of the Attorney General. Public colleges and universities can call their general counsel. Independent schools and private colleges can call retained counsel or the National Association of Independent Schools resources.

Decline access to nonpublic areas (classrooms, offices, and dormitories) unless presented with a valid judicial warrant or judicial order. Governor Healey and Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell previously reminded Massachusetts students and faculty that ICE does not have a right to enter nonpublic campus facilities, including dormitories, without a valid judicial warrant or judicial order.

Protect confidential student and family information unless disclosure is legally required. The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) at 20 USC 1232g and 34 CFR Part 99 generally prohibits disclosure of student records to third parties without parental consent or, for postsecondary students, the student's own consent. For child care, the Massachusetts regulations at 606 CMR 7.04 and the federal Head Start Performance Standards at 45 CFR Part 1302 require confidentiality of family records.

Document interactions and follow internal reporting protocols. Every contact with federal immigration officers should be logged with the date, time, location, names and titles of officers, badge numbers, the specific document presented (administrative warrant, judicial warrant, request for cooperation), and the outcome.

Health Care Providers and Facilities

For hospitals, community health centers, clinics, and other health care providers, the guidance recommends prioritizing patient care above all else, protecting confidential health information, ensuring private communication between patients and providers, establishing internal reporting and escalation pathways, and documenting any interactions that could affect the delivery of care.

Patient health information is already protected by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act at 45 CFR Parts 160 and 164 and by the Massachusetts patient privacy statute. HIPAA permits disclosure of protected health information for law enforcement purposes only in narrow circumstances, including a court order, a court-ordered warrant, a subpoena or summons issued by a judicial officer, a grand jury subpoena, or an administrative request that meets the standards at 45 CFR 164.512(f). An ICE administrative warrant generally does not meet these standards.

Hospital emergency departments are also subject to the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) at 42 USC 1395dd, which requires hospitals to provide a medical screening examination and stabilizing treatment to any person who comes to the emergency department, regardless of immigration status. ICE presence in an emergency department waiting area can deter immigrant patients from seeking care, with downstream public health consequences. The May 28 guidance reinforces that hospitals should not allow federal immigration enforcement to interfere with EMTALA-mandated patient care.

Places of Worship

For places of worship, the guidance recommends a more detailed set of practices that recognizes the special role of religious institutions and the loss of the prior federal sensitive-locations protection.

Designate a primary point of contact for interactions with federal immigration officers. This should be the senior pastor, rabbi, imam, priest, or another official with the authority to speak for the institution.

Require a valid judicial warrant or court order before allowing entry into nonpublic areas (offices, classrooms, nurseries, and other restricted spaces).

Clearly identify and mark public and nonpublic areas. The guidance recommends posting signage and defining any restrictions on access to buildings, parking areas, or events. The Fourth Amendment analysis of whether an area is public or private often turns on whether the area is openly accessible to the public or marked as restricted. Clear marking and consistent enforcement matter.

Develop written policies and visitor protocols. A written policy adopted by the church board or governing body makes the institution's position clear to all staff, volunteers, and congregants.

Refrain from sharing personal information about congregants, staff, or volunteers unless legally required. Membership lists, baptism records, immigration sponsorship letters, and similar records should be treated as confidential.

Document any interactions with federal immigration officers and follow internal reporting protocols.

Ensure staff, volunteers, and congregants understand their rights, including the right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment, the right to consult an attorney, and the right to document enforcement activity from a safe distance under the First Amendment.

Conduct Know Your Rights trainings and educate congregants about available legal resources. Several Massachusetts faith communities have already conducted these trainings, including parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston, member congregations of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, and member synagogues of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.

State Executive Branch Facilities

The public-facing guidance for state facilities and state property clarifies four points. Federal immigration officers may not enter nonpublic areas of state Executive Branch facilities without a valid judicial warrant or judicial order. Administrative warrants issued by federal agencies do not authorize entry into nonpublic spaces. Warrantless civil immigration arrests are prohibited in private areas of state facilities. State property may not be used to stage or conduct civil immigration enforcement operations.

These four rules govern state Executive Branch facilities, which include offices of the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Public Health, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Unemployment Assistance, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Industrial Accidents, and other Executive Branch offices that immigrant families visit in the course of accessing benefits, licenses, and services. The Massachusetts trial court system and the federal courthouses are not state Executive Branch facilities, so the four rules do not by themselves bind those buildings.

What This Means for Massachusetts Immigrant Families

For the Brazilian, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Salvadoran, Honduran, Guatemalan, and other immigrant communities across Massachusetts, the May 28 guidance is real-world help, and it is help that depends on institutional follow-through. The guidance tells schools, hospitals, child care providers, colleges, and churches what to do. It does not by itself train the staff at every elementary school in Framingham, every community health center in Brockton, every parish in Everett, every public university dormitory in Boston. That training is happening, unevenly.

What every immigrant family in Massachusetts can do this week is to take the guidance as a prompt to ask three questions of the institutions that touch your family.

Ask your child's school or child care center: who is the designated administrator who will be the first point of contact if federal immigration officers arrive? What is the policy for confirming a judicial versus administrative warrant? What is the policy for releasing students at the end of the day, and who is authorized to pick up your child? Make sure the school has up-to-date emergency contacts and pickup authorization forms on file. The Governor has also filed legislation that would allow parents to pre-arrange guardianship for their children in case of detention or deportation. Until that legislation passes, families can use a notarized Caregiver Authorization Affidavit under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 201F to designate a backup caregiver.

Ask your hospital or community health center: what is the patient privacy policy if federal immigration officers ask about a patient? Will the front desk and triage staff know not to confirm or deny the presence of a specific patient without a judicial warrant or court order? If you are afraid to seek care, ask whether the institution has bilingual immigrant patient navigators who can answer your questions confidentially.

Ask your church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or other house of worship: is there a written policy? Has there been a Know Your Rights training? Are there bilingual materials for congregants? Is there a connection to a legal services organization (Greater Boston Legal Services, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services of New England, Project Citizenship, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the Brazilian Worker Center, the Brazilian Immigrant Center, the Haitian American Public Health Initiative, or others)?

The Broader Massachusetts Context

The May 28 statewide guidance is the latest in a series of actions by the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Massachusetts Legislature to limit state cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement, while preserving cooperation with federal criminal investigations. The earlier Executive Order signed by Governor Healey laid the foundation. The state Senate passed the PROTECT Act 37 to 3 to limit ICE courthouse arrests. The Healey-Driscoll Administration launched a state portal with the Attorney General to allow residents to report alleged ICE misconduct. Governor Healey called on Secretary Kristi Noem to extend Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and opposed new ICE detention centers in New England.

The federal government has pushed back. The Department of Justice has sued Massachusetts over the state's refusal to issue confidential license plates to ICE for use in civil immigration enforcement. The DOJ argues that the refusal violates the Supremacy Clause. Massachusetts argues that the state's confidential plate program is reserved for criminal law enforcement and that civil immigration enforcement is outside that scope. That case is now pending. The pattern is one of state regulation of state-licensed providers within the limits set by federal preemption doctrine and Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997), which prohibits federal commandeering of state officials and does not prohibit state non-cooperation.

Within that legal context, the May 28 guidance does what state guidance can do. It tells state-licensed providers what their rights are under the Fourth Amendment, what the law requires under FERPA and HIPAA, and what operational practices Massachusetts encourages within those legal limits.

What to Do This Week

For immigrant families in Massachusetts, here is a concrete checklist.

First, update emergency contacts and pickup authorization forms at your child's school and child care center. Make sure at least two trusted adults are authorized to pick up your child. Consider executing a Massachusetts Caregiver Authorization Affidavit so a backup caregiver can make educational and medical decisions if needed.

Second, talk to your children about what to do if a parent does not come home. Identify the trusted adult who would care for them. Walk through where important documents (birth certificates, passports, immigration paperwork) are kept. Write down the phone numbers of family, attorneys, and consulates on a card in their backpack.

Third, carry a Know Your Rights card. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the Brazilian Worker Center, and many faith communities have printable bilingual Know Your Rights cards. Carry one in your wallet and have one in your car.

Fourth, know the basics of your rights. You have the right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment. You have the right not to open the door to ICE without a judicial warrant signed by a judge. You have the right to ask to see the warrant under the door or through a window. You have the right to consult an attorney before answering questions. You have the right not to sign any document you do not understand, particularly any document captioned as a stipulated removal or voluntary departure.

Fifth, if you are detained or arrested, do not sign anything without speaking to an attorney. Voluntary departure and stipulated removal can extinguish humanitarian protections (asylum, withholding of removal, protection under the Convention Against Torture, SIJS, VAWA, U-visa, T-visa, cancellation of removal) that you might otherwise qualify for. Many of these protections are forfeited by signature.

Sixth, consult a qualified humanitarian immigration attorney before making decisions about leaving the United States, filing affirmative applications, traveling outside Massachusetts, accepting deferred action, or signing any document presented by ICE. Each case turns on specific facts, and the May 28 guidance is one piece of a larger landscape that includes the May 21, 2026 USCIS adjustment-of-status discretionary memo (PM-602-0199), the May 29, 2026 TPS EAD one-year cap, the May 29, 2026 annual asylum fee enforcement, and the pending Supreme Court decision on Haiti and Syria TPS expected by early July 2026.