House Judiciary Committee Reports Boston Ignored 54 ICE Requests in 2026

The House Judiciary Committee released a report on November 2 assessing the impact of sanctuary policies in Boston and Massachusetts. The document arrives on the eve of elections, targeting the specific practices of Mayor Michelle Wu, Gov. Maura Healey, and the state legislature.

According to the committee, Boston Police ignored all 54 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests sent in 2026. This figure follows a previous report that identified 167 ignored requests in 2025. The committee noted that no foreign national criminal has been transferred to ICE custody in Boston since 2021.

The report cites the Trust Act, a 2014 law signed by then-Mayor Marty Walsh. This legislation restricts local police cooperation with ICE on civil immigration matters. The committee stated that these rules have allowed individuals with violent criminal histories to re-enter the city. Data in the report lists encounters in the first ten months of 2026 with individuals from Colombia, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, China, Morocco, and Venezuela.

A survey released in October by the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association is included in the report. It shows that 56% of residents felt unsafe downtown in 2026, up from 34% in 2025. The committee used this data to argue that sanctuary policies correlate with increased resident anxiety.

Mayor Wu’s office rejected the findings, calling the report an empty attack by House Republicans. A spokesperson for the mayor noted that a federal judge dismissed a Department of Justice lawsuit against Boston in June. The spokesperson stated that community policing and the Trust Act have helped make Boston the safest major city in the country.

The committee also addressed statewide policies, specifically the recently signed Protect Act. This law limits cooperation between state and local law enforcement and ICE. The report highlights cases of individuals with pending charges for negligent homicide and sex crimes who were released due to these local protections. It also references a marriage fraud ring uncovered by U.S. Attorney Leah Foley’s office, where the leader marketed Massachusetts as a sanctuary for fraud.

Critics of the policies include 12 of 14 Massachusetts sheriffs. These officials, along with Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue, recently asked Gov. Healey to address public safety concerns related to the Protect Act. The committee further noted that the Biden administration’s own officials warned in 2023 that refusing to honor detainers posed a public safety threat.

The report references the 2017 Lunn decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. That ruling, issued while Healey served as attorney general, established that state courts lack the authority to hold individuals solely on federal civil immigration detainers beyond their scheduled release time. This decision remains a key legal framework for local law enforcement in the state.

The committee contrasted these local actions with federal initiatives under President Trump. In 2025, Trump signed executive orders directing the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to evaluate sanctuary jurisdictions for federal funding. The Justice Department has since identified Massachusetts and Boston among 11 states, three counties, and 18 cities that obstruct federal immigration enforcement.

Gov. Healey’s office has been requested for comment on the new findings. The report serves as a detailed critique of the current legal and operational framework governing immigration enforcement in the Boston area.