As TPS ends for Haitian workers, Massachusetts spells out PROTECT Act rules-employers must warn staff before ICE inspects records

The Healey administration on Tuesday released detailed instructions for implementing the PROTECT Act, telling hospitals, employers, police departments, and state agencies across Massachusetts what to do when federal immigration agents appear, as the new protections took effect.

For Haitian and other immigrant workers who have lost Temporary Protected Status this summer, one of the most immediate changes lands at the workplace: employers must now warn their employees before Immigration and Customs Enforcement inspects their paperwork.

Under guidance issued by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, the Office for Refugees and Immigrants and the Attorney General’s Office, a Massachusetts employer that receives a Notice of Inspection from ICE, which opens a review of I-9 forms, the records verifying who is authorized to work, must tell affected employees in writing within 48 hours, unless federal law requires otherwise.

The notice has to reach workers individually and in their primary language; a sign posted in the break room does not satisfy the requirement.

The state published a sample notice employers can adapt. Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Lauren Jones said the rule gives employers clear steps to follow while making sure workers are informed in time to act.

Also taking effect Tuesday are limits on how state and local police interact with civil immigration enforcement. Officers, dispatchers, and records staff may no longer ask about, log, share, or act on a person’s immigration status in most circumstances, and departments may not lend personnel, buildings, or equipment to federal civil immigration operations. The law further bars holding someone in custody past the point they would otherwise be released solely because ICE has filed a detainer, a request that a jail keep a person locked up for immigration purposes. New roll-call training, developed with the Municipal Police Training Committee and the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, is meant to walk officers through the rules.

The guidance is equally explicit about what does not change. Police can still investigate crimes, make arrests backed by a judicial warrant, conduct bookings, respond to emergencies, and work with federal partners on criminal cases. If a crime occurs during a federal immigration operation, officers may step in to handle the public-safety threat while staying out of the civil enforcement itself. Nothing in state law removes the federal government’s authority over immigration; ICE can still operate in public areas and on the street.

Health care providers received a model policy and a month to adopt their own. Hospitals, community health centers, nursing and rest homes, clinics, emergency medical services and a range of other providers must, by October 4, name a point of contact for law-enforcement encounters, identify the nonpublic areas where patients are treated, or health information is discussed, and train staff on how to respond. Civil arrests are not allowed in those designated areas without a judicial warrant. Health and Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah said no one should have to weigh their health against fear of immigration enforcement, and that places people go for care should remain trusted resources.

Agencies must review their properties and mark nonpublic areas, where civil arrests are prohibited unless backed by a judicial order or needed to meet an immediate health or safety threat; courthouses are treated separately. Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz said residents should not fear entering state buildings to access the services they are entitled to.

Governor Maura Healey, who signed the PROTECT Act on August 5 and has called it the strongest state shield in the country against federal immigration tactics, framed Tuesday’s rollout as turning the law’s promises into daily practice. The measure, she said, is about preserving the trust that lets people seek care, report crimes and reach the services they rely on. Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll said the guidance helps front-line workers know what to do if they encounter ICE. The new resources build on rules the administration issued last month for K-12 schools and child care programs, and on Executive Order 650, which Healey signed earlier this year to limit immigration enforcement on state property.

The instructions arrive at a tense moment for the state’s Caribbean communities. The U.S. Supreme Court in June cleared the way for the Trump administration to end TPS for Haiti, and the termination took effect July 27, stripping legal status from roughly 20,000 Haitians in Massachusetts; by most estimates, many of them are long-serving health care and transportation workers. Protections for an estimated 7,000-plus Salvadorans in the state are set to lapse September 9. A separate lawsuit, Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS, is challenging federal rules that would strip work permits from TPS holders and asylum seekers; a first hearing was held at Boston’s Moakley courthouse in late July.

Immigration lawyers say the workplace is where many families will first feel the shift. Some caution that employers worried about penalties may move to dismiss Haitian or Syrian workers outright — which, attorneys note, would itself amount to unlawful national-origin discrimination. Advocates have urged TPS holders to consult an immigration attorney about their individual situation, since some may qualify for green cards, asylum or family-based relief that outlasts TPS.

For now, the PROTECT Act guidance does not change whom ICE can pursue. What it changes is what happens inside a Massachusetts hospital, workplace, or state office when agents arrive — and whether a nursing assistant who clocks in unsure whether her records are about to be pulled gets 48 hours’ warning first.

This article was originally written in English. Other language versions are produced using AI translation software, and errors are possible — the English version is authoritative. CTN also uses AI to convert text into audio.
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