Press Release: 9/14/2026
Guidance issued for implementing PROTECT Act
The Healey-Driscoll administration has issued a series of guidance documents to help schools, courthouses, child care programs, healthcare facilities, and other specified locations implement and comply with the PROTECT Act, which was signed on Aug. 5.
On Aug. 21, the Executive Office of Education and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released model policies, procedures and guidance to provide school districts, charter schools, educational collaboratives and licensed or state-funded early education and care programs with clear steps to follow if federal immigration enforcement agents arrive on site or request access to a student, child or their information.
The guidance addresses designating staff points of contact, reviewing and responding to requests, involving legal counsel when appropriate, documenting interactions, notifying families, and protecting confidential information. The resources also provide procedures for alerting school communities when civil law enforcement agents are confirmed on school grounds, while protecting individual privacy, updating student emergency contacts, and sharing the policies with students and families.
The PROTECT Act generally prohibits civil arrests on school grounds and on the premises of covered child care programs without a judicial warrant or judicial order. The law also requires covered schools and programs to adopt policies governing interactions with civil law enforcement.
The law’s protections apply regardless of whether a school or program has completed its required policy.
Additional guidance areas
The PROTECT Act limits civil arrests in courthouses, child care programs and nonpublic areas of healthcare facilities; strengthens guardianship options for families if a parent is detained or deported; and creates a state civil rights remedy for constitutional violations.
On Sept. 8, the Healey-Driscoll administration issued PROTECT Act guidance and resources for health care providers, employers, law enforcement, and state agencies.
The guidance addresses protections for nonpublic areas of state property and in healthcare facilities, limits state and local law enforcement participation in civil immigration enforcement, and covers a new requirement for employers to notify workers in writing if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is going to inspect employee records.
The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, Municipal Police Training Committee, and Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association developed new roll call training materials to help police officers, dispatchers, records staff and other law enforcement personnel understand the PROTECT Act’s requirements and how they apply to day-to-day public safety work.
The PROTECT Act limits when state and local law enforcement may inquire about, record, share or act on a person’s immigration or citizenship status. It also restricts the use of state and local personnel, facilities, equipment and other public resources to conduct or participate in federal civil immigration enforcement and prohibits holding someone past the time they are otherwise eligible for release based solely on an immigration detainer.
If a crime or breach of the peace occurs during a federal civil immigration operation, officers may respond to address the public safety issue while remaining separate from the civil immigration enforcement activity itself.
• Visit the administration’s PROTECT ACT resources portal
Written by John Ouellette, Senior Executive and Director of Communications