Home Republican Anna Paulina Luna formally really useful that the Division of Justice open an investigation into Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, saying that her enforcement of the town’s sanctuary insurance policies could violate federal immigration regulation.
Luna, a Florida congresswoman, introduced at final week’s listening to of the Home Committee on Oversight and Authorities Reform that she could be “criminally referring” all 4 collaborating sanctuary mayors to the Division of Justice. In the end, she opted to refer three of the 4 for a legal probe.
Wu, together with the mayors of Chicago and Denver, Brandon Johnson and Mike Johnston, have been formally really useful for investigation. New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams was not, a spokesperson for Luna instructed the Herald Friday.
“I write to formally request an investigation into Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s enforcement of sanctuary city policies, specifically the Boston Trust Act, which may constitute violations of federal immigration law,” Luna wrote in a March 5 letter to Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi.
“By limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities, the Boston Trust Act and Mayor Wu’s directives may be construed as attempts to harbor or shield unauthorized immigrants, potentially violating … federal statues,” Luna wrote.
Boston’s sanctuary standing is enshrined within the Belief Act, a 2014 native regulation that prohibits metropolis police and different departments from cooperating with federal authorities on civil immigration detainers.
It was amended in 2019 and unanimously reaffirmed by the Boston Metropolis Council final December. Metropolis officers say the native regulation permits for cooperation with the feds in legal issues like human trafficking, youngster exploitation, drug and weapons trafficking and cybercrimes.
Luna’s letter describes the Boston Belief Act as a regulation that “prohibits local officials from detaining individuals based solely” on detainer requests from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “even if the individuals have criminal histories.”
Her letter additionally states that the Belief Act “restricts local officials from inquiring about a person’s immigration status and from responding to ICE requests for information regarding an individual’s criminal history.”
Luna cited the sections of federal immigration regulation that she sees Wu as being in violation of by way of enforcement of the Belief Act, together with public statements Boston’s mayor has made about “her commitment to non-cooperation with ICE.”
Federal immigration regulation, Luna’s letter states, “prohibits concealing, harboring, or shielding unauthorized immigrants from detention,” and “criminalizes attempts to encourage or induce unauthorized immigration.”
The Florida congresswoman additionally cited a piece of federal regulation that she says “stipulates that local governments cannot prohibit or restrict communication with federal immigration authorities regarding individuals’ immigration status.”
“Mayor Wu has publicly reaffirmed Boston’s status as a sanctuary city and has expressed her commitment to non-cooperation with ICE, stating that such federal efforts ‘actually threaten the safety of everyone by causing widespread fear,’” Luna wrote.
Given the “potential conflicts between Boston’s sanctuary city policies and federal immigration laws,” Luna stated, “I urge the Department of Justice to investigate whether Mayor Michelle Wu’s actions constitute violations.”
The Division of Justice didn’t instantly return a Herald inquiry about whether or not the lawyer basic plans to comply with by way of on Luna’s requested probe.
Wu’s workplace didn’t instantly present a touch upon the matter.
Requested concerning the potential for referral to the DOJ for legal prosecution after final week’s listening to in Washington, D.C., Wu instructed reporters, “Boston follows the laws.”
Wu stated throughout a radio look this week that her workplace was “continuing with the document production that has been formally requested” by the committee.
She defended the $650,000 authorized invoice metropolis taxpayers pays for her listening to preparation and doc manufacturing as mandatory in gentle of “threats to put me in jail” and “take away” federal funding from the town.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat who sat alongside Wu on the Boston Metropolis Council, stated final week that whereas she thought legal prices could be baseless, she wouldn’t “underestimate” the Trump administration.
“They continue to push the bounds of what is criminality, to stoke the flames of fear-mongering, of demonizing our neighbors, our loved ones, our communities and the cities that we love,” Pressley instructed reporters final week in D.C.
Wu stated at final week’s listening to that Boston Police implement legal warrants, no matter immigration standing. She stated this week on the radio that Boston wouldn’t help with the federal authorities’s “mass deportation” efforts.
Home Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, stated after final week’s listening to that there could be “serious consequences” for the mayors, together with cuts to federal funding for his or her cities, in the event that they proceed to “obstruct” the deportation of “criminal illegals.”
Luna’s workplace didn’t point out why the congresswoman opted to not refer New York’s mayor to the Division of Justice for a legal investigation.
Adams, the New York mayor dealing with federal corruption prices, was pressed by a number of Democrats ultimately week’s listening to to disclose the circumstances behind the Trump administration’s push to drop the case.
The Justice Division, per a Wall Avenue Journal report, ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop their bribery case towards Adams final month, saying in a memo that the indictment had interfered with the mayor’s potential to take part in Trump’s immigration enforcement.
