Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Monday that the Trump administration is trafficking in “a lot of bluster” as it threatens municipalities like Boston for purportedly giving inadequate support to Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
“There’s been a lot of bluster so far, and a lot of intentional trying to create drama and fear and sort of perception of fulfilling pretty draconian campaign promises,” Wu said during a regular interview on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “When in reality our job at the city level especially, but I would say in government in general, is to understand the law, is to follow the law, and to go by facts rather than just sort of made up stuff.”
Wu noted that a recent Trump executive order that attempts to end the practice of birthright citizenship was blocked “pretty harshly” in an initial court ruling. She likened that executive order to the Department of Justice’ recent threat to prosecute local officials in municipalities that are deemed insufficiently cooperative with Trump’s mass deportation program, clearly implying that the threat is legally tenuous.
“[We are] making sure that we are running cities that are safe, where people feel like they can take their kids to school, engage in city services, call 911 when they need help, report crimes when they have information to report,” Wu said. “That’s been working in Boston.”
“We will continue to follow the law,” Wu added, referring to the Boston Trust Act , which was passed in 2014 and amended five years later. That ordinance limits the city’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities, allowing the Boston Police Department to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on issues of significant public safety, but not to engage in civil immigration enforcement.
“The federal government has their purview,” Wu added. “We don’t enforce federal immigration law. Our police department takes care of criminal activity and they focus on local issues, and whenever someone breaks the law, we hold them accountable here regardless of their immigration status, which we do not ask about and we do not interact with.”
Before Trump’s inauguration, Wu engaged in a public back-and-forth with Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming “border czar,” over Boston’s cooperation or lack thereof with federal immigration officials.
Wu also suggested that, so far, the Trump administration seems to be following the Biden administration’s practice of targeting undocumented immigrants engaged in serious criminal wrongdoing, albeit with a more sensationalistic approach than the Biden administration utilized.
“That largely has been what has still been demonstrated in the enforcement, but with Fox News embedded going along, with Dr. Phil [participating],” Wu said. “With this element of wanting to sensationalize and stoke greater fear about it.
“The federal government will continue to do what they do on the federal side. We will continue to do what we do on the city side, which is keeping everyone safe here. And we don’t have the authority to, let’s say, stop or overrule what they’re doing in their domain, but neither do they in our domain.”
Boston’s public schools are one area where the seemingly frictionless separation Wu describes could become complicated. The mayor said guidance has been issued to Boston’s schools that “no unauthorized adults” are allowed in school buildings. She also said she was unaware of any attempts made by federal officials to enter schools or churches as part of the deportation process, but also said the Boston Police Department’s lack of communication with ICE makes it difficult to say whether this has or hasn’t occurred.
Asked if she would consider offering up Boston City Hall as a haven of last resort to people facing deportation, as then-Mayor Marty Walsh did eight years ago during Trump’s first term, Wu effectively said no, and suggested that such an offer could have negative unintended consequences for undocumented immigrants in Boston.
“I’m not one for performative actions that could theoretically put our residents at even greater risk,” Wu said. “We are going to do everything that we can to make sure we are implementing and providing the supports that are needed for our residents, but that is not something that has come up as a helpful step in the current context.”
Toward the end of her interview, Wu said she hadn’t yet spoken with Jonathan Kraft, the son of billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, about the 2025 Boston mayoral race. Kraft, who filed campaign paperwork on Friday, is challenging Wu as she seeks a second term this fall. The mayor has made it clear she plans to seek reelection, but hasn’t officially launched her campaign.
However, Wu did take a seeming shot at Kraft for allowing surrogates to speak on his behalf about his intentions rather than voicing his intentions directly to Boston voters.
“Boston residents expect you to know what’s happening, to have clear positions, to be able to get right in there and very clearly explain how you’re going to get things done and how you’re going to make life better,” Wu said.
“And at some point when you’re the candidate, you’re going to have to speak for yourself and not just have the consultants do it for you” — here, Wu chuckled — “and be clear about what you’re putting forward. I’m really eager to get to that point.”
Wu also said that while she has met Kraft over the years, and had “a phone call or two” with him, she hasn’t “seen him at a ton of events.”
