BOSTON — ICE Director Todd Lyons and U.S. Attorney Leah Foley issued a blistering joint statement Thursday evening in response to Governor Maura Healey's demand that the agency hand over detailed records on every person arrested in Massachusetts since January 2025.

"Isn't it rich that the very governor who refuses to share information with federal law enforcement is now demanding information on ICE arrests?" the statement read. "She forgets that being in the country illegally is, in fact, illegal."

The statement directly contradicts Healey's claim that most of those arrested had no criminal history, asserting that "the majority of those had committed serious crimes in the United States or in their native countries" and that "most were released due to local and state jurisdictions refusing to cooperate with ICE."

Lyons and Foley said Operations Patriot and Patriot 2.0 resulted in more than 2,860 arrests of "criminal undocumented immigrants, many of whom were let into the country under President Biden."

"Governor Healey should stop using her pulpit to smear ICE and bully private companies," the statement continued. "Instead, she should start working with the Trump Administration to put American citizens first and keep our New England communities safe from criminal offenders."

The fiery response came just hours after Healey sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Lyons demanding the identity of every person arrested, the legal basis for each arrest, their case status, detention location, court jurisdiction, and upcoming hearing dates, giving the agency one week to comply.

The letter included several cases Healey's office says were reported to her administration: an 18-year-old honors student arrested while driving to volleyball practice, a mother of a quadriplegic child detained on her way to work despite a pending asylum application, and a father who lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years before being transferred out of state, leaving behind two American citizen children. Healey acknowledged her administration has not been able to independently verify these cases.