Care Not Cages: Mass Immigrant Justice in 2026

Becca Kornet, Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County

Shannon Flynn and Leela Ramachandran from LUCE led a breakout group at Progressive Mass’s 2026 Annual Meeting about the critical work done by LUCE. LUCE is an acronym: Liberation, Union, Community, Esperanza/Esperança/Espoir/Espwa (hope). LUCE’s work covers two broad areas:

  • Hotline operators available 6am-8pm (call this when you think you see ICE, ask about resources, report detentions)
  • Local hubs of volunteers (ICE verifiers, connecting with local resources, canvassing with “know your rights” info)

The communities hit hardest by ICE in 2025 include Framingham, Milford, Marlborough, East Boston, Chelsea, Revere, New Bedford, Waltham, and more. Even suburban communities like Acton, Newton, Milton, and Hudson have seen ICE activity. From March-December of last year, verifiers responded to over 1,100 incidents in 120 cities and towns in Massachusetts (and this is likely under-counted). People have been detained in a wide range of locations, including district court, businesses, traffic stops, homes, immigration court, on the street, at gas stations, and more. There has been frequent collaboration between local police and court staff and ICE.


We were reminded that we have had bad immigration policy since the 1700s, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. While what’s happening now is particularly horrible, much of it is not new. President Obama truly earned the moniker, “deporter in chief,” as his administration detained more immigrants than all presidents since 1890 combined. The Biden administration didn’t do nearly enough. And Governor Healey, while finally taking a stronger stance on this issue, has also not gone far enough. When you hear about people being transferred, this can mean a dehumanizing experience of being in full body shackles for hours in a van; transfers are often done very quickly and to multiple places, so often by the time detainees’ families know they are gone, they have been moved from Burlington to Plymouth to Louisiana; this quick movement also means they have had no chance to secure legal representation.


As for the detention locations in Massachusetts:

  • The facility in Burlington is an office building, and not set up to keep people long-term; immigrants are often sleeping on floors
  • The conditions in Plymouth are terrible, with detainees reporting freezing temperatures (meaning they have to shell out money to buy sweatshirts if they can afford it) and inedible food
  • There is also the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) in Framingham and Burlington, where individuals are given ankle monitors to wear and rules to follow – and they are still at risk of
    deportation


Currently, Massachusetts allows local/state entities to rent detention space and sign contracts with ICE. Learn more about the Dignity not Deportations Act (H1588/S1122), which would prohibit these contracts and also prohibit MA entities from donating time to or volunteering with ICE. The Detention Watch Network is a great resource. Another great way to help is by volunteering for the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN); there are opportunities to accompany individuals to court and make financial donations to their bond fees, which can be extremely expensive. 

To learn more, sign up to volunteer, or make a financial contribution, visit https://www.lucemass.org.

The Vote Yes for a Safe Massachusetts Campaign: How to Help Protect our Gun Safety Laws

Becca Kornet, Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County

Alejandra Rivera, Policy Manager at the Mass Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, led a breakout group at Progressive Mass’s 2026 Annual Meeting on January 31st about the effort to repeal recent gun safety legislation. In 2024, Maura Healey signed a new gun safety bill into law – An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws. While Massachusetts already had strong gun safety laws, this legislation closed many loopholes (e.g., regulation of ghost guns), making it MA’s most significant gun safety legislation in a decade and raising the Commonwealth to an A grade rating on the Giffords Scorecard. The law went into effect in July 2024; by October of that same year, extremists filed a petition to repeal it.


This question will be on the ballot in November 2026. While we won’t know the question number until the spring, we do know that we need to vote YES to keep the current legislation as it is and not repeal it. As is often the case, the yes/no wording on ballot questions can be confusing or counterintuitive, so it’s critical we start getting the word out to our networks now so we can build awareness and education.


The group behind the push to repeal the legislation is GOAL – the Gun Owners Action League. Their messaging is often misleading. For example, their website is TheCivilRightsCoaltion.com, which may lead people to assume a very different intent. They are well-funded, with about $170K in the bank to fund their campaign.


To learn more, get involved, or make a financial contribution to help them combat the spending that is sure to come up from our opponents, go to https://www.yesforasafema.com. Vote YES for a Safe Massachusetts!

The MA House Held “Listening Sessions” This Week. Did Your Rep Speak Up?

This week, MA House Democratic Leadership held a series of listening sessions to learn about what rank-and-file members want to do about ICE and about protecting our immigrant communities in Massachusetts.

The fact that these listening sessions are happening is an indicator that your calls and emails are breaking through: they know they need to do something.

But here’s a question: if they were listening, who was talking?

Was your state rep speaking up and advocating for policy that meets the moment? The only way to know is to ask.

Feel free to use our writing tool or find your state rep’s phone number and email and reach out with a simple script:

“I was glad to hear that the MA House held listening sessions this week about action to take to rein in ICE and protect our communities. It is important in Massachusetts that we prevent state and local law enforcement from collaborating with ICE or being deputized as ICE agents. What priorities did you bring up in the listening sessions this week, and how are you working with colleagues to turn them into law?”

Email Your State Rep

Other states are taking action. Just yesterday, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill to prohibit state and local governments from entering into agreements to detain individuals for civil immigration violations, stop the use of public land for immigration detention, and ban 287(g) agreements that turn local law enforcement into immigration agents. MA should be leading, not playing catch-up.