Boston Mayor Wu to ICE: ‘We will not back down’

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has reaffirmed her commitment to protecting the city’s immigrant community after ICE threatened to boost enforcement following her refusal to comply with the Trump administration’s immigration demands.

Defiant stance: Wu, Boston’s first Asian American mayor, emphasized the city’s independence from federal pressure to reporters Thursday. “We will not back down,” she declared, echoing her message earlier in the week. “This is not the first time I’ve made it clear that our residents expect us to take care of our city. We know how to take care of our neighbors here in Boston without the interference, coercion, intimidation, bullying or threats from the federal government.”

The latest confrontation stems from Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi’s Aug. 13 letter requiring Boston to eliminate immigration policies that allegedly obstruct federal enforcement, particularly the Trust Act, which prevents local police cooperation with federal agents absent criminal warrants. Despite threats of funding cuts and criminal prosecution for interfering officials, Wu, who previously compared ICE agents to neo-Nazis, rejected the Justice Department’s Aug. 19 compliance deadline.

More ICE in Boston: The war of words escalated Wednesday when Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons announced plans to increase immigration enforcement in the city. “We did Operation Patriot March, which yielded over 1,000 arrests, and now you’re going to see more ICE agents come to Boston to make sure that we take these public threats out that she wants to let go back in the communities,” Lyons told the “Howie Carr Show.”

More broadly, the former Boston ICE operations chief criticized sanctuary city policies. “We’re definitely going to flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions,” he said. “Sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood. But 100%, you will see a larger ICE presence.”

What’s next: Wu rejected Lyons’ threats Thursday, saying the administration “needs to stop attacking cities to hide their own failures.” However, she declined to speculate about specific responses to increased ICE presence, noting she would not engage in “hypotheticals” while emphasizing that Boston already follows the law.

Amid her challenges, Wu enjoys strong public support. A July Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll shows her leading challenger Josh Kraft 60% to 30% ahead of September’s preliminary election, while her sanctuary policies maintain 62% approval.