Boston mayor reaffirms sanctuary city policies in response to DOJ legal threat

Mayor Michelle Wu doubled down on the city’s refusal to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids during a Tuesday press conference. Boston has always been a city of revolution and has never bowed to tyranny, Wu said. Her comments came after Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned a swath of sanctuary cities and counties that they would be prosecuted for refusing to work with federal partners. Boston will not back down from what it believes, so stop attacking cities to hide the Trump administration's failures, Wu said Tuesday.

What has the Trump administration said? Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin slammed Wu during a Tuesday interview, citing criminal migrants recently arrested in Boston. Officials arrested child rapists and aggravated assaulters in the city just within the last two weeks, McLaughlin said. Sanctuary city politicians like Wu are playing Russian roulette with American lives, she added. DHS planned to push through and continue working in sanctuary areas despite noncompliant officials, McLaughlin said. ICE is hiring thousands of new officers who will have the numbers to flood the zone, she said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom also responded to Bondi’s warning on Tuesday with a letter alleging that her threatened lawsuits would be viewed as harassment and thereby violate California ethics laws.

Dig deeper: Read Addie Offereins’ report in WORLD Magazine about a religious group suing the Trump administration for arresting migrants during church services.