Gov. Maura Healey questions border czar Tom Homan's 'fixation' on Mass. after ICE arrests

Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald on Mar 25, 2025

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BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey questioned Trump border czar Tom Homan’s “fixation” on Massachusetts after he visited the state last week amid a series of immigration-related arrests carried out by federal authorities.

Homan was in town last week as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 370 people who were allegedly living in the United States illegally. The visit came after Homan promised to bring “hell” to Boston and pledged to visit the city during a speech at a conservative conference.

Healey said she did not understand “what the fixation is” on Massachusetts when asked if Homan succeeded in “bringing hell” to the state.

“To be quite honest, we’re a very safe state. We’re not a sanctuary state. Local, state, and federal law enforcement continue to work with and partner with one another,” Healey told reporters as she walked out of a separate media interview toward her office in the State House.

Healey pointed to an invitation from the Trump administration to the Massachusetts State Police to attend a ceremony last week at the White House to honor the agency’s part in arresting two dozen alleged gang members in Lawrence.

“So I’m not quite sure I understand what’s going on here,” Healey said.

In a lengthy post Monday to the social media site X, Homan said he traveled to Boston last Tuesday to “kick off” a five-day operation that involved multiple federal agencies like ICE and the FBI.

Homan said a total of 370 “illegal aliens in Boston and surrounding areas” were arrested.

“A majority of the 370 being significant criminals. These arrests included 6 foreign fugitives, including four who were wanted for murder or to serve a criminal sentence for murder, along with drug traffickers, child sexual predators and numerous other violent public safety threats,” Homan wrote.

He also went after Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Healey.

“Gov. Healey and Mayor Wu should be ashamed of supporting sanctuary policies. Releasing public safety threats back into the public, rather than working with ICE at the jails, puts the public at great risk,” he said.

Healey said Monday that Massachusetts is “among the safest states in the country.”

“I’ve said from the outset, we’re not a sanctuary state, that state and local police continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement, federal agencies,” Healey said. “As a former attorney general, I can assure you that I’m doing everything I can to support the work of those in law enforcement to address issues of crime in communities.”

A spokesperson for Wu said Monday that Boston is the “safest major city in the country” and that city officials partner with all levels of law enforcement to prevent crime and hold “perpetrators” accountable.

“Given that we have no information on these arrests, we cannot confirm how many took place within Boston police jurisdiction or in other cities, and we cannot confirm whether every individual was lawfully detained,” the spokesperson said. “We strongly urge ICE to release information on all the individuals detained in order to ensure transparency.”

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