ICE says it arrested 82 people in a three-day September operation in southeastern Massachusetts
The mayors of New Bedford and Fall River commented publicly on ICE arrests in their cities that same week. The agency's release does not say whether those arrests are among the 82.
SOUTH COAST U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it arrested 82 people during a three-day immigration enforcement operation in southeastern Massachusetts the week of Sept. 21, the same week the mayors of New Bedford and Fall River spoke publicly about ICE arrests in their cities. The agency announced the arrests in a news release dated Monday, Oct. 19.
The release does not name the cities or towns where the arrests were made, give the dates of the three days, or say how many of the 82 have a criminal conviction. That September week, the New Bedford mayor and the governor called on the agency to disclose more, while ICE and the Department of Homeland Security declined to give reporters details, saying they do not disclose information about ongoing operations.
The agency's account
ICE described the 82 as people living in the country illegally. The release says several of them had been released from jail by unnamed "sanctuary jurisdictions" that refused to honor ICE immigration detainers, which state law defines as requests to a law enforcement agency to keep a person in custody for immigration enforcement.
The agency said many of those arrested have criminal histories that include charges such as "assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, indecent assault, and battery on a child under 14, possession of child sexual abuse material, extortion by threat of injury, strangulation or suffocation, driving under the influence, and larceny."
The release names seven of the 82: three from Brazil and one each from Portugal, Ecuador, Honduras and Haiti. ICE said four of the seven had been convicted of at least one offense, among them indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, assault with a motor vehicle, assault with a dangerous weapon and driving under the influence. It said the other three had been arrested on charges that include assault with a dangerous weapon, strangulation or suffocation, extortion by threat of injury and larceny, and that one of them had been removed from the country before. The release gives no ages, hometowns, courts or case numbers, and South Coast 360 is not naming the seven because we could not check their cases in a court record. Where the release lists arrests rather than convictions, those charges are accusations, and anyone charged is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
"Time and time again, sanctuary politicians in Massachusetts have made the dumbfounding choice to prioritize dangerous criminal illegal aliens rather than their law-abiding American citizens," acting ICE Boston Field Office Director Joseph Sher said in the release. He named the state's Protect Act as an example of "embarrassingly performative legislation." The release credits President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and it thanks the U.S. Coast Guard for its help during the operation.
The September arrests
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said in a statement Sept. 22 that ICE had arrested at least eight people in the city the day before and that there was no indication any of them had a criminal record beyond minor motor vehicle violations. He said the agency had not released information about them and had not notified the New Bedford Police Department of its operation, which he said put officers at risk.
Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan spoke at a news briefing in the city on Sept. 24. "I have no problem with dangerous cartel members, drug dealers, violent criminals being taken out of the city of Fall River by ICE, but that's about where I'm going to draw the line," Coogan said.
In a statement Sept. 22, Gov. Maura Healey called on ICE to disclose whom it had arrested and why. ICE's Oct. 19 release is silent on whether the arrests the mayors described are among the 82.
The Protect Act
The law Sher named is Chapter 163 of the Acts of 2026, titled "An Act promoting rule of law, oversight, trust and equal constitutional treatment." State Sen. Cindy Friedman, whose Senate Committee on Steering and Policy drafted the Senate version, calls it the Protect Act on her website. The Legislature passed it as an emergency law, and it was approved Aug. 5, 2026, according to the session law posted on the Legislature's website.
One section bars police, sheriffs' departments and state court employees from holding a person based solely on an immigration detainer past the time the person would otherwise be eligible for release, unless federal or state law, a judicial warrant, a court order or a treaty requires it. Under the act, that section took effect 30 days after the law's effective date.
The same section makes an exception to its limits on sharing information: police and sheriffs may give federal immigration authorities advance notice when a person is released at the end of a sentence for certain offenses. The list includes violent felonies that cause serious bodily injury, sex offenses including those involving a child, serious drug offenses involving class A or B narcotics, certain firearms offenses and offenses involving abuse as the state's abuse prevention law defines it.
The law also bars law enforcement agencies, cities and towns from signing, renewing or materially expanding agreements under Section 287(g) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, which deputize local officers to carry out civil immigration enforcement. The state Department of Correction may keep the agreement it had in place on June 8, 2020, and an agency may apply to the governor for an agreement of up to 12 months limited to criminal law. The law states that the section does not restrict police from investigating and enforcing criminal law. A separate section, set to take effect 90 days after the law's effective date, bars civil arrests at state courthouses unless the officer first gives a designated judge documents showing a judicial warrant or order that authorizes the arrest.
Open questions
The agency's account also leaves out where the 82 are held and what stage their immigration cases have reached. South Coast 360 has not yet heard from ICE on which cities and towns the arrests took place in or how many of the 82 have criminal convictions, or from the mayors of New Bedford and Fall River on the release. We will add their answers.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
How we verified this
Every fact about the operation comes from ICE's own Oct. 19 news release, which we read in full and saved on the afternoon of Oct. 20; it is the agency's account. Every fact about the state law comes from the text of Chapter 163 of the Acts of 2026 on the Legislature's website; the name Protect Act comes from Sen. Cindy Friedman's page on the bill. The September statements by Mayor Jon Mitchell, Mayor Paul Coogan, Gov. Maura Healey and ICE rest on two newsrooms each quoting or citing the official, listed below; the city websites did not load for us. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. We do not name the seven people the release names: it gives no ages, towns, courts or case numbers we could check, and several entries involve charges where a victim could be identified. Not heard: ICE on where the arrests took place and how many of the 82 have convictions; the mayors of New Bedford and Fall River on the Oct. 19 release.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (6)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, "ICE Boston arrests 82 illegal aliens during 3-day operation in Massachusetts" (news release, Oct. 19, 2026; page updated Oct. 20)The 82 arrests, the three-day operation in southeastern Massachusetts the week of Sept. 21, the detainer statement, the list of charges, the seven people it names, the statement by Joseph Sher and the thanks to the Coast Guard. Read Oct. 20, 2026, at 3:36 p.m.
- Acts of 2026, Chapter 163, "An Act promoting rule of law, oversight, trust and equal constitutional treatment" (session law, malegislature.gov)The emergency preamble, the Aug. 5, 2026, approval, the detainer definition and limits, the advance notice exception, the 287(g) limits, the criminal law clause, civil arrests at courthouses and the effective dates of Sections 7 and 12. Read Oct. 20, 2026, at 3:38 p.m.
- State Sen. Cindy Friedman, "The PROTECT Act (An Act promoting rule of law, oversight, trust and equal constitutional treatment)" (cindyfriedman.org)The name "PROTECT Act" for the act titled "An Act promoting rule of law, oversight, trust and equal constitutional treatment," and that the Senate version was drafted by the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy, which she chairs. Read Oct. 20, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of Homeland Security pageMarkwayne Mullin is the secretary. Read Oct. 20, 2026.
- Boston.com, "2 Fall River students may have been detained in surge of ICE activity, mayor says" (Sept. 24, 2026)Reported Mayor Paul Coogan's remarks at the Sept. 24 briefing and Gov. Maura Healey's call for information on who was arrested and why. Read Oct. 20, 2026.
- Also reported by: WBUR, NBC Boston, NBC 10 News.