Twelve Sheriffs Asked Healey to Change One Clause of the PROTECT Act. Here Is What It Says, Who Signed, and What Happened Next

A letter signed by 12 of Massachusetts' 14 county sheriffs has put one provision of the state's new immigration law at the center of the final week of the governor's race. The letter, dated Oct. 22, asks Gov. Maura Healey to consider a change that would let sheriffs notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before releasing certain people held before trial.

The law at issue is the PROTECT Act, which Healey signed on Aug. 5. According to WBUR, it expands protections against warrantless civil immigration arrests at courthouses, public schools, child care centers and health care facilities. The Boston Herald reported that it prohibits civil immigration arrests without a judicial warrant at those places and other state-owned property. It also broadly bars sheriffs from giving ICE advance notice before releasing someone the agency wants to deport.

The sheriffs' concern is a gap in that last part. "The statute prevents advance notice to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, except when an individual is released after completing a sentence for a felony that constitutes a violent crime," the letter says, as quoted by the Herald. "This exception does not apply to pretrial detainees." In other words, a person convicted of a qualifying violent felony can be the subject of a notice at the end of a sentence, but a person charged with a similar crime and released on bail cannot.

The letter asks the administration to "review this issue and consider a legislative, regulatory, or administrative solution that permits limited, public safety-based notification when a pretrial detainee is subject to a detainer and is charged with a qualifying violent and dangerous offense," according to State House News Service, as published by CommonWealth Beacon.

The sheriffs offered examples, as summarized by the Herald: detainees subject to immigration detainers facing charges including murder, rape, kidnapping, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and class A drug trafficking. They said 14 such detainees had bail set at $1,000 or less, and that bail of $500 to $1,000 had been set for people charged with kidnapping and with assault and battery on a household member. One pretrial detainee in Worcester County, they wrote, is wanted by Interpol for murder in the Dominican Republic and had bail set at $500. Those are the sheriffs' descriptions of charges, which are allegations; the letter as reported does not name the detainees.

"If federal authorities do not receive notice while an individual remains in custody, they may instead seek to locate that person in the community," the sheriffs wrote. "This can create avoidable risks for the public, law-enforcement personnel, families and others who may be present during those encounters."

The signers are 10 Democrats and two Republicans. According to the Herald and the News Service, the Democrats are Thomas Bowler of Berkshire County, Paul Heroux of Bristol, Robert Ogden of Dukes, Kevin Coppinger of Essex, Lori Streeter of Franklin, Nicholas Cocchi of Hampden, Patrick Cahillane of Hampshire, James Perelman of Nantucket, Patrick McDermott of Norfolk and Steven Tompkins of Suffolk. The Republicans are Joseph McDonald of Plymouth and Lewis Evangelidis of Worcester. Two Democrats did not sign: Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley and Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian.

The letter drew little notice until Tuesday, Oct. 27, WBUR reported, when Republican nominee Mike Minogue held it up at a press conference outside the State House, flanked by police union leaders. "When individuals are charged with serious violent crimes and can be released without advanced notification to federal authorities, we need to examine whether the law is putting public safety at risk," Minogue said, according to the Herald. McDonald, the only sheriff present, said the law "takes away, perhaps, what is the strongest and best tool that we have to fight crime and keep the public safe, and that is communication."

Healey, speaking after an event in Weymouth, defended the law. "ICE is a rogue agency," she said, according to the Herald, describing many of its agents as "untrained" and "unfit for the position." "We wouldn't need the PROTECT Act if ICE wasn't doing what it's doing," she said, as quoted by WBUR, and she said she would "continue to talk with the sheriffs" about their concerns. She also said Minogue would repeal the law. Asked whether he would, his campaign spokeswoman, Elizabeth Hopkins, said he would "listen to law enforcement, public safety experts, and sheriffs, and work to address those grave concerns," according to the News Service.

Hours after Minogue's event, the Healey campaign announced that the state's 12 Democratic sheriffs had endorsed her. Their statement, as reported by the News Service, said that "while the PROTECT Act presents some challenges for our Sheriffs' offices, we are confident that through continued collaboration with Governor Healey and Lt. Governor Driscoll, we can work together to refine the legislation." That group includes the two Democrats who did not sign the letter.

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, Cahillane, president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs Association, sent a second letter to Healey. According to WBUR, which published it, he wrote that "we never intended for this to become a politically partisan issue" and that the sheriffs' concerns "should be treated strictly as a public safety matter, outside the realm of politics."

The sheriffs are also in a budget dispute with the Legislature. The House on Oct. 21 passed a $2.35 billion supplemental budget that did not cover sheriffs' fiscal 2026 shortfalls, as lawmakers historically have in closeout bills, the News Service reported. House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said "we are still having dialogue with the sheriffs." In June, the state inspector general issued a report criticizing sheriffs' spending, WBUR has reported.

Any change would require a bill, a regulation or an administrative step, as the letter itself notes. None has been filed or announced. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.