Boston Mayor Michelle Wu held a press conference where she announced that the federal government had sent her a letter threatening to cut off Boston’s federal funding if the city does not cooperate with ICE enforcement. The mayor responded by saying, “Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law.” This is ironic, given that she is openly refusing to follow immigration law.
Boston is officially a sanctuary city under the 2014 Trust Act, which prohibits city police and other departments from cooperating with ICE and federal agencies on civil immigration detainers. Under this law, Boston police cannot be deputized as ICE agents, ask individuals about their immigration status, or detain anyone solely on the basis of an ICE civil detainer request.
Police are also barred from sharing information with ICE, making arrests based on ICE warrants, or transferring people into ICE custody. Boston is one of 18 cities included on the Justice Department’s list of 35 “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
Beyond sanctuary city policies, Wu has taken additional steps that federal officials view as obstruction. She signed an executive order demanding that ICE provide information on who they are arresting in Boston and even told ICE Director Tom Homan “to take a time out.”
Wu said the city would file a formal appeal and “take legal steps if they continue to refuse transparency” regarding ICE arrests. She has accused ICE of using “secret police tactics,” describing their operations as people being “snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks.”
She criticized ICE agents for wearing masks, claiming that Boston police don’t hide their faces, while pointing out that a New England neo-Nazi gang does. But ICE agents conceal their identities because of widespread doxxing campaigns that threaten both their safety and their families. As for the neo-Nazi gang, the same group is known to eat barbecue, breathe air, and sleep in a bed, so clearly, anyone doing any of those things is a neo-Nazi.
Wu described people being “terrified for their lives and for their neighbors, folks getting snatched off the street by secret police.” But the only people who need to be afraid are those in the country illegally. And if they are afraid, all they have to do is self-deport.
The Trump self-deportation program has been highly successful: immigrants register, receive $1,000, and a plane ticket to their home country. Participation in CBP’s Home Self-Deportation program may even help preserve their ability to re-enter the United States legally in the future.
Federal officials have condemned Boston’s sanctuary policies as obstruction, arguing they endanger public safety by releasing illegal immigrant criminals before ICE can detain them. ICE Acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde directly challenged Mayor Wu’s stance, pointing to recent operations in Massachusetts that netted nearly 1,500 illegal immigrant offenders, including suspects charged with rape, assault, and kidnapping. She said ICE will continue enforcement regardless of local resistance, stressing that her officers are committed to keeping communities safe.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has announced a dramatic escalation in federal presence, saying on The Howie Carr Show that ICE will “flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions.” He argued that “sanctuary does not mean safer streets, it means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood,” and promised a larger ICE presence in Boston. Lyons cited Operation Patriot, which produced more than 1,000 arrests, as a model for future actions.
The backlash has gone beyond ICE officials. U.S. Attorney Leah Foley called Wu’s statements “reckless and inflammatory,” while the White House described them as “disgusting” and dangerous. Representative Anna Paulina Luna went further, accusing Wu and other sanctuary city mayors of “harming the American people” and pledging to refer them to the Justice Department for investigation.
The Justice Department escalated its fight with sanctuary cities by issuing an ultimatum to Boston and 31 other jurisdictions. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent demand letters to 13 states, including Washington, as well as to 22 local governments from California to Rhode Island and from Boston to Seattle, accusing them of limiting police cooperation with ICE.
Major cities such as Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia were also on the list. Washington’s governor openly rejected the directive, accusing the Trump administration of threatening state values.
The letters warned that city officials could face prosecution and loss of federal funds unless they assisted in carrying out mass deportations. Bondi instructed recipients to respond by August 19 with a plan confirming compliance and detailing steps to eliminate policies that obstruct federal immigration enforcement.
On Fox News, Bondi made clear the consequences of defiance: “If they don’t comply with us, we’re going to work with other agencies to cut off their federal funding. We are going to send in law enforcement just like we did during the LA riots, just like we’re doing here in Washington, D.C. And if they’re not going to keep their citizens safe, Donald Trump will keep them safe.”
Wu is running for reelection and is banking on support from both the courts and the people of Boston as she ramps up opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. She is positioning herself as the vanguard against immigration enforcement, a curious platform for anyone to run on, especially since illegal immigrants can’t vote… or at least, they aren’t supposed to.
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