Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has announced plans to identify property owners in Boston who lease parking spaces to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), prompting the Department of Homeland Security to accuse her of using her office 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 her city’s sanctuary policies.
In a statement, Wu clarified that while the city cannot legally block private property owners from leasing to ICE, her administration intends to contact those involved to discourage cooperation. She claimed that ICE activities jeopardize public safety and accused the agency of conducting “unlawful and dangerous” operations.
The Department of Homeland Security criticized Wu’s actions on Monday, labeling her a “pro-criminal mayor” who is attempting to intimidate Bostonians. DHS emphasized that property owners have the right to cooperate with federal law enforcement and accused Wu of overstepping her authority and unfairly targeting ICE agents.
Wu stated: “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 also told reporters: “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 block ICE from using public property as part of its sanctuary city policies.
