The LUCE Immigrant Justice Network says federal agents detained people at two Massachusetts courthouses on the very day the state’s new courthouse protections took effect, and the immigrant-led network is demanding that the court system say publicly whether the agents followed the law the state had just put in place.
LUCE, a Massachusetts coalition of immigrant-led grassroots organizations, said in a statement that on November 3 — the day the PROTECT Act’s courthouse provisions became effective, community monitors in Medford saw U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tackle a man on the front lawn of the courthouse and take him away in handcuffs.
The Massachusetts Trial Court confirmed a separate detention at the Chelsea courthouse that same day, according to the coalition.
LUCE is now calling on the Trial Court to disclose whether officers presented documentation of a judicial warrant or order before either detention, and is urging federal officials to end ICE operations across the state.
What the new law requires
The timing is central to the coalition’s complaint. The PROTECT Act, which Governor Maura Healey signed on August 5, took full effect in courthouses on November 3. Under the law and the Trial Court’s implementing policy, civil immigration arrests are barred inside courtrooms. Elsewhere in a courthouse or on its grounds — including the lawn — an officer making a civil arrest must be acting in an official capacity and, before making the arrest, must provide a judge sitting in that courthouse with documentation showing that a judicial warrant or order authorizes it.
The judge then determines the warrant’s validity on the record, and the court’s security department logs any warrant presented.
Those protections grew out of a sharp rise in courthouse arrests.
According to Trial Court figures cited in earlier reporting, ICE made more than 600 arrests at Massachusetts courthouses in 2025, and supporters of the law argued the practice was driving immigrants away from courts where they were seeking protection, wages, or justice.
At the Medford courthouse, which hears Malden District Court cases, monitors said agents followed the man through the exit with enough force to break the turnstile, according to LUCE. They said at least six agents surrounded him on the front lawn, handcuffed him, and drove him away in what they identified as an ICE vehicle. One monitor said they filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and submitted footage of the detention and of an agent threatening to arrest them. Another monitor, seated near courthouse security, said agents accused them of filming and that one agent paced in front of their bench in what the monitor described as an attempt at intimidation.
In Chelsea, an eyewitness said an immigration agent entered a courtroom and asked for a man’s name, then handcuffed him as he left after his hearing, LUCE reported. The witness said she did not see the agents show a warrant.
LUCE directed its demands at several officials.
It urged the chief justice of the Trial Court to preserve records and security footage from both locations and to explain how the court will address any failure to follow the law. It asked the Attorney General’s Office for a public update on both detentions, and called on Governor Healey to explain how the agencies she oversees are enforcing the PROTECT Act statewide and how they follow up with families who report a possible violation.
“So many of us are exhausted from constantly looking over our shoulders for ICE,” said Eny Lovo of Neighbors United for a Better East Boston. “ICE is not respecting our laws, such as the PROTECT Act. We call upon the governor and local politicians in every city to show leadership. Members of our community are trying to do the right thing by appearing in court despite the terror they face. … Massachusetts owes our families an answer regarding what is happening in our cities.”
The coalition said the enforcement is not confined to courts.
The day after the Chelsea detention, it reported, Chelsea Public Schools alerted families to reports of ICE activity in the city and urged parents to be careful at dismissal. On November 5, LUCE said, a father was detained while dropping his child off at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston at about 7:40 a.m.
“Children witnessed what happened, an experience no child should have to carry with them into their classroom,” said Pietra Adami of the Brazilian Women’s Group. “No parent should have to fear being taken away while bringing their child to school. No child should have to witness a parent being taken from them. And no worker should have to weigh a day’s pay against the possibility of not making it home.”
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