The Trump administration sued top Massachusetts officials over its refusal to issue undercover license plates to federal immigration enforcement agencies on Wednesday.
The federal government is asking a Boston federal judge to step in and order state officials to resume issuing those license plates. At a related press conference on Thursday, Healey immediately mentioned the lawsuit was filed last night by the president and the Department of Justice.
“They want us to give ICE — these agents who’ve been out there perpetrating harm, instilling fear, wreaking havoc in our communities — they want us to give ICE confidential license plates so they can operate in secret in Massachusetts,” she said. She added that ICE operations are kept secret even from local law enforcement.
“I have a message for ICE: Not in Massachusetts. We support law enforcement doing legitimate law enforcement work. That’s not what we’re seeing from ICE. So we’re not going to help them operate in secret as they take people off our streets without cause,” Healey said.
Healey acknowledged just over two weeks ago that the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles has stopped issuing those license plates, saying she supports the move.
Jacqueline Manning, a spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey, said at the time that “Massachusetts is not going to allow state resources to be used to help ICE operate in secret while they are violating people’s rights and making us all less safe.”
But attorneys for the federal government argue the policy is illegal and discriminatory against federal immigration enforcement.
“[The state] nonetheless continues to issue confidential plates to other law enforcement agencies for undercover work and officer safety,” attorneys wrote in Wednesday’s filing. “Its refusal to do the same for ICE and CBP is discriminatory, a direct regulation, and a blatant violation of the intergovernmental immunity doctrine.”
State and federal agencies request and receive confidential license plates to conduct surveillance and undercover operations.
The Trump administration said in the complaint that due to the nature of law enforcement operations, obtaining confidential registrations and license plates “is critical to the success of those operations and to officer security.” Specifically, the administration says officers must avoid “premature detection” and that if they are “forced to use a single traceable public plate, enforcement targets may be able to track and evade enforcement.”
The Department of Justice is also suing the states of Maine, Oregon, and Washington over the same refusal to issue undercover license plates to federal immigration enforcement agents. In the complaints, the DOJ said the restrictions are unconstitutional and jeopardize the safety of agents.
The Department of Homeland Security declined a request from GBH News to say how many times it has tried to acquire an undercover license plate or registration in Massachusetts.
“DHS is not going to confirm or deny law enforcement capabilities or methods. Under President Trump, ICE is using all lawful tools to remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from the U.S,” said a DHS spokesperson.
The lawsuit notes that as recently as 2025, Massachusetts has had a confidential license plate program that allowed all federal agencies — including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Homeland Security Investigations — were able to obtain confidential vehicle registrations and license plates in Massachusetts.
The governor’s office said criminal law enforcement agencies like the FBI, DEA, and ATF, “who are engaging in legitimate criminal law enforcement work” can still request confidential license plates.
The RMV referred questions to the governor’s office.
“We are reviewing the complaint and will defend the RMV policy to the greatest extent possible,” said Sydney Weiser, deputy communications director for the state’s attorney general, Andrea Campbell.
