At least eight people were arrested in New Bedford on Monday during an ICE operation, according to The New Bedford Light. Separately, Juana Tiniguarro told NBC Boston that her husband, Camilo Quino, was detained Tuesday in New Bedford after dropping their daughter off at school. Quino is from Guatemala and has a pending immigration case. At a Thursday news conference, officials, religious leaders and advocates said they knew of roughly 30 families separated from loved ones by ICE that week in New Bedford and Fall River, NBC Boston reported.
Reports describe separate arrests and community effects
Advocates told The New Bedford Light that at least four people arrested Monday worked in fish houses. The outlet identified three New Bedford residents—Miguel Ixcuna-Ixcuna, Israel Sam Cajuil and Arnaldo Lux—and Fall River resident Oscar Abel Gutierrez among those arrested. Its reporting also described agents putting a handcuffed man into an SUV near the waterfront.
The New Bedford Light reported that owners of Casa Lempira and Restaurante y Tortilleria Guatemalteco each estimated their Monday sales were 50% below normal as news of the operation spread. In a separate account, NBC Boston reported that advocates shared video of a man being handcuffed in New Bedford and said he had been on his way to work. Alicia Gonzalez, an advocate, said officers were taking people from cars and streets.
Officials and local organizations respond
Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said he had heard increasing accounts of families being separated, while cautioning that some information reaching his office was anecdotal and still needed verification. He said officials might have had two students picked up, NBC Boston reported. The New Bedford Light reported that Superintendent Andrew O’Leary had received reports of agents near Alfred J. Gomes Elementary School and said the reports had not further affected school operations. These accounts describe reports of agents near a school and an arrest after a school drop-off; they do not establish that an arrest took place on school grounds.
Local organizations said families were seeking assistance. Richard Wilson said members of Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River were among those affected and that the church was offering legal and spiritual assistance, according to NBC Boston. Helen DaSilva Hughes of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center said the organization was receiving calls from families seeking help; NBC Boston also reported that some affected children are U.S. citizens. Rep. Jake Auchincloss said his office was helping constituents’ relatives pursue habeas corpus rights and due process, and characterized the arrests as politically motivated. The Massachusetts Teachers Association criticized allegations that ICE targeted parents and students near schools. ICE confirmed enforcement activity in Massachusetts but declined to discuss current or ongoing operations, NBC Boston reported.
State protections and broader enforcement figures
Gov. Maura Healey said the state’s PROTECT Act does not stop federal immigration officers from making arrests on public streets. The law, signed in Chelsea in early August, restricts warrantless arrests at specified sensitive locations, including schools, health care facilities, child care facilities and courthouses, according to CommonWealth Beacon. That outlet notes that immigration enforcement may still take place in most public spaces.
Federal policy and a New Bedford precedent
Federal guidance on sensitive locations also changed in 2025. PBS NewsHour reported that, at the start of President Trump's second term, DHS lifted federal restrictions on immigration arrests at schools, hospitals and places of worship. That federal policy change is distinct from Massachusetts' PROTECT Act. New Bedford has also seen a separate large-scale workplace operation: according to SouthCoastToday, ICE raided the Michael Bianco factory on March 6, 2007, and detained 361 workers. The factory raid was a distinct past operation, not part of the arrests reported this week.
The current South Coast reports come amid higher statewide enforcement totals. Healey cited figures showing that nearly half of more than 1,400 people detained in a May 2025 enforcement period reportedly had no criminal history, and that more than half detained during a September 2025 surge lacked one, according to Boston 25 News. Her letter also referenced Milford teenager Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, who was arrested on his way to volleyball practice and released after six days.
Massachusetts recorded 572 ICE arrests in July, one of the state’s highest monthly totals since the enforcement surge began the previous September. From September 2025 through early August 2026, ICE removed 1,833 people apprehended in Massachusetts, including roughly 200 minors. Of those removed, 301 had criminal convictions, 510 had pending charges and 1,022 were classified as immigration violators, according to WBUR. The outlet reported that, in fiscal year 2024, nearly half of the 329 people removed after arrests in Massachusetts had criminal convictions.
