The fiscal year 2027 state budget earmarked $5 million to create a program providing legal assistance to people facing deportation. According to state Rep. David Rogers, that money is now being spent. Twenty-four attorneys are working with people facing federal immigration action.
The money was approved in July, and it took some time to set the program up. Rogers said a similar amount of money was included in the governor’s recently released fiscal 2028 budget, which will be voted on in the coming months.
“It represents a significant breakthrough victory,” Rogers said.
According to information from Rogers and state Sen. William Brownsberger, the $5 million was appropriated to the state Office for Refugees and Immigrants to create the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative. The nonprofit Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition won the coordinating role.
To date, the initiative, which just recently became active, has aided about 250 people, according to Rogers.
“Every person should be assured due process of law before deportation, and providing counsel is absolutely critical,” Brownsberger said.
Since taking office in 2025, President Donald Trump has followed through on a campaign promise to detain and deport thousands. To accomplish that, more than $170 million was earmarked for immigration enforcement, with the lion’s share used to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE].
In the year-plus since Trump took office, ICE agents and their activity have become regular features on the evening news. In Minnesota, two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by ICE agents. Accusations of strong-arm tactics, denial of due process, and violations of civil rights have become commonplace.
“[The money] is one way to push back against the deprivation of rights and the actions of the federal government,” Rogers said.
Rogers said tracking recent ICE activity in Massachusetts is difficult, but he said advocacy groups, lawyers, and others have documented increased activity statewide.
According to Rogers, the ICE actions in the Bay State are not the same high-profile, headline-grabbing activity seen in Minnesota and Maine, among other places. Perhaps the most public was the March 2025 detention of Rümeysa Öztürk. Öztürk, a Turkish national, saw her visa canceled, and she was arrested on a street in Somerville and taken to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana. She was released in May 2025. In February 2026, a federal judge ruled there were no grounds to deport her.
Outside that high-profile case, there is already an ICE detention center in Burlington.
“There has been an uptick in ICE activity, which is why it is so necessary to do this,” Rogers said.
As seen in Ozturk’s case, the legal machinations can take weeks, months, or years, and the legal bills can pile up.
“It’s a shame we have a desperate need to do this, but it is good we are doing it,” Rogers said.
People seeking assistance from the new fund can call the hotline at 508-505-4588.