President Trump’s top immigration officer pledged a surge of federal agents to Boston on Wednesday after the city said it would defy pressure to change its immigration policies to match the federal government’s.
At a rally Tuesday outside City Hall, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the city would not help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents locate, detain and deport immigrants.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons fired back Wednesday, saying Boston “will see a larger ICE presence.”
Wu and other officials have long maintained that their approach to immigration law keeps the city safer.
The city’s policy, set by a local law known as the Trust Act, allows Boston Police Department officers to work with ICE on criminal investigations, but limits their ability to cooperate on or share information related to civil immigration enforcement. Officials say the policy allows Boston residents to feel more comfortable interacting with police, improving police-community relations.
The Trump administration sees things differently, accusing city leaders of hampering efforts to detain dangerous criminals.
Federal officials have upped their pressure on Boston and other cities with similar policies, often termed “sanctuary cities,” though city officials say the laws do not provide a harbor for criminals.
Last week, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi gave Boston and nearly three dozen such cities until this past Tuesday to explain how they would lift those policies.
“Here is our response: Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures,” Wu said Tuesday at City Hall. “Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law. And Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.”
Lyons’ response came during an interview Wednesday on “The Howie Carr Show.”
Carr asked whether the government may “surge” federal agents to Boston, akin to how it has deployed National Guard troops and federal officers to Washington, D.C., to fight crime, over the objection of local officials. Boston “100%” will have an increased ICE presence, Lyons said.
“Now you’re going to see more ICE agents come to Boston,” he said. “We’re definitely going to … flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions.”
An increased federal presence around Boston could take the shape of the multi-week immigration enforcement operation ICE conducted across Massachusetts in May, during which it detained nearly 1,500 people. Lyons said then: “Make no mistake: ICE is going to keep doing this.”
Wu, a Democrat, has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration and national Republicans over immigration policy this year. In March, she testified before a Republican-led congressional committee investigating sanctuary policies, alongside the Democratic mayors of three other cities.
Though Bondi did not specify a penalty for Boston and the other cities if they refused to adopt federal immigration policy, the Trump administration has previously threatened to sue or to withhold federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions or prosecute elected officials.
Wu said Tuesday that if the federal government cuts funding to Boston, the city was prepared to fight back. She pointed to the city’s lawsuit against the Trump administration, filed this spring after the government withheld funds for city homelessness programs. A judge deemed the funding cuts unconstitutional.
More recently, the Trump administration has added a requirement to some public safety grants that a certain percentage of the funds be used for border security. Wu said Boston has been receiving those grants for 22 years, and already does border security through harbor patrols and other efforts.
“We are going to continue to apply for those grant funds, and if they are rejected … we will go to court again,” she said. “Where possible, we are leaning on the law, which is in our corner.”
She acknowledged the risk and uncertainty around these decisions, but said Boston has a “history of standing up for what’s right” and she sees no other choice.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, mayoral candidate Josh Kraft, Wu’s top challenger, called the Trump administration’s demands “another unhinged and bigoted attack targeting our nation’s immigrants.”
“It is outrageous to think about ICE officers raiding schools or places of worship to round up undocumented immigrants who are not engaged in criminal activity,” Kraft said. “We cannot yield to Donald Trump and his band of thugs who are desperately trying to undermine the very fabric of what makes America a stronger nation, and Boston a stronger city.”
MassLive reporter Tréa Lavery contributed to this story.
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