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Wu to formally request info on ICE detainees, denounces ‘secret police tactics’
Mayor Michelle Wu also offered some advice to President Trump's "border czar" Tom Homan and ICE: "Take a time-out."
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday that her administration would formally request information from the federal government about people being arrested by ICE in the city. She cited a troubling lack of transparency from the Trump administration about who is being detained and why.
Wu continued to sharply criticize how federal authorities are conducting immigration enforcement in the area, saying it is making the city significantly less safe. She called out President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan by name, continuing their long-simmering feud.
“My advice to Tom Homan and ICE is to take a time-out. Reassess what you are doing and how you are doing it,” Wu said. “A little friendly advice from the safest major city in the country.”
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Surrounded by community leaders and other elected officials at a press conference inside City Hall, Wu announced that she had signed an executive order seeking heightened transparency. She continued to characterize ICE operations as “secret police tactics,” doubling down on language that incensed federal authorities last week.
The city plans to regularly submit Freedom of Information Act requests to the Department of Homeland Security regarding federal immigration enforcement activity in Boston. City officials hope to find out who is being detained and on what grounds.
In the executive order, Wu said she was aware of numerous reports of federal agents arresting people without affording due process rights, causing property damage, routinely wearing masks and refusing to provide identification, and questioning residents about their immigration status based on their ethnicity.
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“In Boston, our officers wear badges, they do not routinely wear masks. We are clear about the reasons for potential arrests or interactions,” she said. “We expect the same standards from law enforcement operating in the city, no matter what agency they are from.”
The city could also submit FOIA requests to get information on how federal officers are using facemasks and displaying their identities, according to the order.
ICE leaders maintain that agents need to shield their identities because they and their families have been threatened online.
An ICE spokesperson referred Boston.com to the White House for a response to the announcement. A White House spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last week, ICE leaders convened a press conference to announce that a monthlong operation in Massachusetts resulted in the arrests of almost 1,500 people. They touted this work as essential to restore public safety and highlighted some of the alleged violent criminals who were detained. ICE officials shared images of a select few of these people but offered no information about their identities. According to figures provided by ICE itself, less than 60% of those arrested in the operation had criminal charges against them.
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Wu says the federal government has ignored repeated requests for information from the city. She referenced confusion that occurred earlier this year over how many immigration detainer requests were submitted to the Boston Police Department by ICE. Local and federal officials offered wildly different numbers, with BPD blaming ICE for exclusively sending requests via fax machine despite repeated requests that they be sent to the department via email as well.
Wu did acknowledge that the federal immigration system is “broken” and called for “comprehensive immigration reform” from lawmakers in Washington. Gov. Maura Healey has often made similar comments while struggling to deal with the state’s shelter crisis.
The announcement comes as anti-ICE protests continue in cities around the country, including Los Angeles. Tensions are mounting there after Trump ordered National Guard soldiers and Marines to the city, despite legal questions over his ability to do so and objections from local leaders.
Wu has been a vocal advocate for so-called sanctuary policies that limit cooperation between local and federal authorities when it comes to civil immigration enforcement. These policies heighten trust between residents and police and therefore improve public safety, she argues.
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With ICE ramping up heavy-handed tactics from coast to coast, people are seeing with their own eyes how these operations actually diminish public safety, Wu said.
“The American people are not stupid,” she said. “No one is buying the line that these secret police tactics are making communities safer. No one is buying that this is making cities safer, how they are doing their jobs.”
Read Wu’s executive order here:
Executive Order Immigration Enforcement by Ross Cristantiello on Scribd
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