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‘Stop attacking our cities,’ Wu says to Bondi, threatening legal action
Mayor Michelle Wu had harsh words for members of the Trump administration after they asked her to abandon the city's "sanctuary" policies.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu delivered a sharp rebuke to Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration Tuesday, threatening legal action and defying Bondi’s request that the city abandon its “sanctuary” policies.
“Silence in the face of oppression is not an option,” Wu said at a press conference outside City Hall. She was joined by Sen. Ed Markey, most members of the City Council, state lawmakers, police officers, activists, union members, and leaders from nearby communities.
Wu has been a near-constant foil to the new Trump administration, especially in its efforts to politicize sanctuary policies that limit cooperation between local and federal law enforcement. In the midst of a reelection campaign in a city that largely dislikes President Trump, Wu convened a raucous event that featured a near-constant stream of attacks on the federal government.
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The latest chapter in the feud between Boston and the Trump administration came last week, when Bondi sent a letter to Wu accusing the city of having “sanctuary policies and practices that thwart federal immigration enforcement to the detriment of the interests of the United States.” Bondi asked Wu to submit a response by Tuesday and threatened prosecution against the city.
Wu offered her direct response to Bondi in her remarks.
“Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures. Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law. And Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for,” she said.
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A Department of Justice spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday. They referred Boston.com to an appearance Bondi made on Fox News this week where she threatened to send in federal law enforcement to sanctuary jurisdictions and cut off their federal funding if they refuse to comply.
While sanctuary policies are generally understood to be those that prevent local police from sharing certain information with federal immigration enforcement agents, there is no standardized legal definition of the term. The answer to whether or not Massachusetts, and Boston, are true sanctuary jurisdictions largely depends on who one asks.
In her role heading the DOJ, Bondi is attempting to codify what makes a sanctuary jurisdiction. Federal officials published a list of criteria earlier this month and identified a range of states, counties, and cities that they say have taken steps to “materially impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes and regulations.” Boston was listed, alongside Connecticut and Vermont. The letter Wu received from Bondi was sent to every jurisdiction listed by the DOJ.
“Any sanctuary jurisdiction that continues to put illegal aliens ahead of American citizens can either come to the table or see us in court,” Bondi said on social media when she announced the letters.
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Wu called these threats from the federal government “serious and consequential.” But she offered harsh words in response while playing up how the Trump administration is struggling to move on from discourse about convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and Trump’s relationship with him.
“Under the Trump administration, groceries are less affordable, housing is harder to build, cures for cancer are farther away, and good news on our economy has been as hard to find as the Epstein list,” Wu said.
Boston likely found itself on Bondi’s list of sanctuary jurisdictions because of the Boston Trust Act, which was originally enacted in 2014 and amended in 2019. Under that ordinance, the Boston Police Department is directed to collaborate with ICE only on issues of significant public safety importance, like cases of child exploitation and human trafficking.
Wu, who is among the Trust Act’s most vocal advocates, says that it improves public safety by making sure every resident feels comfortable reporting crimes to the BPD without worrying that doing so could impact their immigration status. The City Council unanimously reaffirmed its support for the ordinance last December in anticipation of Trump’s return to the White House.
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After the federal government dramatically ramped up ICE activity in and around Boston earlier this year, the Wu administration began to formally request details on people being arrested by immigration agents in the city. That effort was announced in early June, and federal officials said that they would comply.
But Wu said Tuesday that her administration’s Freedom of Information Act requests have gone unanswered for months. She said that Boston would file a “formal appeal” insisting that ICE produce the requested documents. The city is prepared to take additional legal steps if ICE continues to refuse to be transparent, she added.
The new developments come as the Trump administration continues to mischaracterize the nature of violent crime in major cities like Washington, D.C. as a pretext for deploying the National Guard. Members of the Wu administration have reviewed legal challenges to the Trump administration brought by officials in the nation’s capital and in Los Angeles, the mayor said.
“While you deploy military personnel to occupy American streets, we are building community safety. Our police don’t have to hide their faces,” Wu said.
The mayor has routinely decried the practice of federal agents covering their faces, labeling ICE activity as “secret police tactics.” She has publicly sparred with Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan while defending Police Commissioner Michael Cox from similar attacks.
Wu is running for reelection against the well-funded philanthropist Josh Kraft. But ousting an incumbent mayor in Boston is exceptionally difficult, and Wu is generally popular among the city’s left-leaning electorate. Recent polling shows her with a commanding lead over her opponent.
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In a statement Tuesday, Kraft called Bondi’s letter an “unhinged and bigoted attack targeting our nation’s immigrants.”
“I strongly oppose Trump’s deportation plan,” he added. “Boston is home to many law-abiding and hardworking immigrants, many of whom I know from my 35 years of work in the community. 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.”
Through constant antagonization, Trump allies are giving Wu a repeated platform to play to her progressive base and potentially help her chances of winning a second term. This was most evident in March when GOP lawmakers had her testify before Congress about Boston’s sanctuary policies. Wu’s tough responses earned her widespread praise and helped expand her name recognition nationwide.
“The cities that live in your minds are totally foreign to the residents living in our cities,” she said Tuesday, addressing the Trump administration. “We are picking up the pieces of your failures to deliver on your promises.”
Read the letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi to Mayor Wu below:
Bondi Letter to Wu by Ross Cristantiello
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