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Massachusetts Democrats want ICE agents PROSECUTED by a 74-point margin — new poll has Bay State Dem voters supporting criminal charges 86-12

Monday, May 18, 2026•
5 min read
MDN Staff
•
Massachusetts Democrats want ICE agents PROSECUTED by a 74-point margin — new poll has Bay State Dem voters supporting criminal charges 86-12

A new Center for Strategic Politics poll of likely Democratic primary voters in Massachusetts's 6th congressional district lays bare an electorate that doesn't just want to limit ICE — it wants ICE personnel in the dock.

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BOSTON — Massachusetts Democrats don't just want to limit cooperation with ICE. They want to throw the agents in jail.
A new Center for Strategic Politics poll of likely Democratic primary voters in Massachusetts's 6th congressional district has Bay State Democrats supporting the criminal prosecution of ICE leaders and rank-and-file agents by a 74-point margin. The split: 86 percent in favor. 12 percent opposed.
MA-6 is Congressman Seth Moulton's seat — the North Shore from Salem and Gloucester through Lynn and Peabody, plus parts of Middlesex County. The Democratic primary in MA-6 effectively decides the seat.
U.S. Representative Seth Moulton (MA-6)
Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA-6), now running a primary challenge against 79-year-old Senator Ed Markey.
ICE — the federal agency that legally removes illegal immigrants ordered deported by immigration judges — operates under federal law and federal court orders. Prosecuting individual agents for doing their jobs is not a procedural reform. It is a declaration of war on the agency. By 86 to 12, Massachusetts Democrats are signaling they would back that war.

The Bay State Dem electorate, in one survey

The same MA-6 poll captured the other positions defining the electorate that picks Massachusetts's Democratic nominees:

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  • Israel. 86 percent want to end, reduce, or condition U.S. military aid. A 44 percent plurality want to end it entirely.
  • AI regulation. Stronger government regulation favored by a 90-point margin.
  • Rent control. The state ballot measure leads 63-20.
  • Senate. In Moulton's own home district, Markey leads him by 7 points.

Healey's ICE war

The 86-12 vote doesn't come out of nowhere. Massachusetts's governor has spent the past year openly waging one.
In late January, Healey filed H.5050, a $411 million "emergency supplemental budget" with sweeping anti-ICE restrictions tucked inside — barring federal agents from schools, daycares, hospitals, churches and courthouses without a judicial warrant and the local director's sign-off. The same month, she filed a separate bill creating "ICE-free zones".
In March, the Massachusetts House released the PROTECT Act — a parallel anti-ICE bill from the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus that bans ICE courthouse arrests, blocks new 287(g) cooperation agreements with local police, and directs AG Andrea Campbell to sue for violations.
Healey told Massachusetts colleges to post signs keeping ICE off campus. The AG's office stood up a hotline for reporting "ICE activity." The MA-6 electorate — 86-12 in favor of prosecutions — apparently wants her to go further.

The "agents" MA Dems want prosecuted

To understand the 86-12 vote, look at who ICE Boston has actually been arresting in Massachusetts. From the agency's own public announcements:
These are the "agents" Massachusetts Democrats — by 86 to 12 — say should be the ones in the dock.

Why it matters for Healey

Healey — already underwater in the latest MassINC poll at 39 percent approval against 45 percent — governs a party whose primary electorate has moved this far. Her anti-ICE moves aren't fringe. They're the floor.

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