Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a new enforcement surge in Massachusetts on Monday, saying it will send additional agents to pursue what the Department of Homeland Security described as the state’s "worst of the worst" criminal immigration cases.
DHS officials said the campaign, called "Patriot 2.0," follows an earlier ICE surge in May — dubbed Operation Patriot — that authorities said resulted in roughly 1,500 arrests across the state. The May operation drew widespread protests after agents conducted arrests in locations including Worcester, Nantucket and Boston, and local officials criticized the tactics used during some of the raids.
A DHS spokesperson said the new operation will "target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens living in the state of Massachusetts, following the success of Operation Patriot in May." The statement reiterated administration language that those who enter the country unlawfully and break U.S. laws will be pursued, arrested and deported.
Federal officials have framed the enforcement push as focused on criminals, but outside reporting has raised questions about that emphasis. An Associated Press analysis published in July 2025 found that a majority of immigrants in detention at that time had no criminal convictions, a statistic critics say undercuts claims the agency is exclusively targeting serious offenders.
Massachusetts elected officials and city leaders have sharply criticized the latest announcement. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement to NBC10 that the administration has "been spreading blatant lies and threatening to ‘bring hell’ to cities like Boston who refuse to bow down to their authoritarian agenda," and vowed the city "will not be bullied or intimidated into abandoning the efforts that make Boston a safe home for everyone." Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Boston, alleging the city’s sanctuary policies obstruct federal enforcement of immigration laws.
Governor Maura Healey, speaking on MSNBC, called the operation "political theater" and an attempt to intimidate communities and local officials. "What we have seen from ICE and the administration isn’t about public safety, it’s about political theater, about a political power grab and an attempt to intimidate," she said.
White House border czar Tom Homan has signaled that Massachusetts will not be the only focus. Homan said similar intensified actions were planned for other major cities, including Chicago, potentially as soon as this week. DHS and ICE officials have not publicly detailed the timing, personnel numbers or precise tactics to be used in Patriot 2.0.
Advocates and local leaders cite past enforcement actions around the country when describing potential consequences. In May, some arrests in Massachusetts were described by residents and local officials as chaotic and, at times, violent; in other states, immigrant communities have reported deaths linked to attempts to flee raids and a broad atmosphere of fear following sweeps.
ICE and DHS point to arrests made during prior operations as evidence of their enforcement priorities, but the operations have prompted legal and political clashes with city and state governments that maintain policies limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Federal litigation and continued public protests are expected to shape the response to Patriot 2.0.
The new enforcement plan comes amid a broader national debate over immigration policy and the authority of federal agencies to operate in jurisdictions that have adopted sanctuary policies. Local leaders have said those policies are intended to build trust between immigrant communities and municipal authorities, while federal officials contend they impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes.
ICE did not immediately make available a detailed public operational plan for Patriot 2.0, and DHS declined to provide an exact timetable for the expected deployments. Community groups and civil rights organizations said they would continue to monitor the operations closely and offer legal and social services to affected families.