Gov. Maura Healey is slamming President Donald Trump’s threats to cut federal funding to sanctuary cities and states as ICE continues operations across the country amid a crackdown on illegal immigration.

“Well, I won’t give you the finger,” said Healey when asked by the Herald if she had any reaction to the president’s threat, referencing an incident in Detroit Tuesday where Trump raised his middle finger to a factory worker who had heckled him.

“What’s going on right now with ICE in this country is horrifying. I say that as a former prosecutor and attorney general — somebody who put away bad guys. I’ve said from the beginning: If you want to put away bad guys, you want to come into communities and work with governors, work with AG’s, work with local law enforcement to do that, you’ve always had support. But, that’s not what’s going on,” she said.

Trump said during a speech Tuesday at the Detroit Economic Club that starting Feb. 1, he will cut off federal funding to any states with local governments resisting federal immigration policies and enforcement.

The Justice Department sued the City of Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu in September over its sanctuary policies. The lawsuit also targets New York, New Jersey, and the City of Los Angeles.

“The City of Boston and its Mayor have been among the worst sanctuary offenders in America – they explicitly enforce policies designed to undermine law enforcement and protect illegal aliens from justice,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “If Boston won’t protect its citizens from illegal alien crime, this Department of Justice will.”

Several other cities and towns across the state also have sanctuary policies, while Massachusetts has its own statewide policies, stemming from a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision prohibiting state and local police, as well as sheriff’s departments, from working with ICE in certain ways, like enforcing immigration detainers.

When it comes to Massachusetts, Healey says ICE has left residents and illegal immigrants in the state too “terrified” to go about daily life.

“As we speak, folks, in Massachusetts, because people are so afraid of ICE, they are not going to court, they are not going to school, they are not going to doctors’ appointments. That’s not making us safe. When I think about what’s happening in the courts right now. Victims of violence are afraid to come forward because of their concern that they’ll be picked up by ICE,” Healey told reporters. “This is wrong. There is a right and wrong about certain things in America, and there’s a right and wrong about a way to do law enforcement and a way to protect communities. What the Trump Administration is doing is not that.”

Healey went further in her criticism of violence between ICE agents and the public seen across the country, ultimately blaming President Trump for negative interactions, pointing to last week’s ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis that resulted in the death of Renee Nicole Good and several other recently reported incidents involving federal immigration agents.

“Anyone who looks at the video of the horrific killing of Renee Good sees what happened. I’m just really horrified at the actions of ICE. These agents are acting, to be clear, at the direction of the president. What’s happening is just so wrong. Masked agents taking people off our streets who are U.S. citizens, some of the violent tactics that we’ve seen. Just videos in just the last 24 hours, even after Renee Good is shot you see ICE agents physically pulling people, including a woman who claimed she was disabled and literally had her seatbelt still on out of the window of a car,” said Healey.

Trump has tried cutting off some funding to sanctuary jurisdictions in the past, with federal courts putting an end to those efforts. A federal judge in California blocked a 2025 push to cut funding to sanctuary cities and states, while another effort during his first term was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2017 – back when Healey was Attorney General.

“These are not proper law enforcement actions. These are actions that make us less safe in our communities and our country.” Healey added. “I continue to encourage the President to change course on this. Because ICE here in Massachusetts and around this country, they’re just acting at the direction of Donald Trump. So, he needs to understand what’s happening and care. And what we see is just incredibly cruel and callous behavior. I don’t know if it reflects if they’re not trained, I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s just wrong.”

The policy stems from a 2017 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision, Lunn v. Commonwealth, which states “Massachusetts law provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer, beyond the time that the individual would otherwise be entitled to be released from State custody.”

The Trump Administration has also threatened to withhold funding to states for other reasons, including states who refuse to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture with requested data on Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, a list of states Massachusetts is included on.