Boston Mayor Wu blasted by feds for evaluating masked ICE brokers to neo-Nazi group

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was blasted once more by federal officers for her criticism of immigration enforcement within the metropolis, this time for her “sickening” remarks evaluating the mask-wearing ICE authorities to a distinguished neo-Nazi group.

The comparability drew a scathing response from the President Donald Trump’s White Home on Thursday night time.

“Boston Mayor Michelle Wu doubled down on her disgusting, dangerous attacks on law enforcement yesterday when she compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to neo-Nazis — just days after the so-called ‘sanctuary city’ mayor smeared ICE and other federal agents as ‘secret police,’” White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson mentioned in an announcement.

“If the mayor had any shame, she’d be embarrassed for fanning the flames of hate while ICE agents face unprecedented threats to themselves and their families — but that’d be asking too much in today’s Democrat Party. She’s denigrating the same agents who just removed nearly 1,500 criminal illegal immigrants from the streets of her state, in the largest-ever immigration enforcement operation,” Jackson added.

The White Home assertion got here on the heels of a warning the ICE Appearing Director Todd Lyons issued to Boston’s progressive mayor late Wednesday night time. The highest ICE official weighed in hours after Wu responded to a rebuke from the U.S. Legal professional Leah Foley at Metropolis Corridor, by doubling down on equating federal immigration authorities to “secret police” — statements that Foley had criticized as “reckless and inflammatory.”

In a video posted to the official U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement social media web page on X, Lyons spoke typically at first, saying that “politicians need to stop putting my people in danger,” by making up “talking points that get activists riled up,” earlier than making it clear he was referring to Boston’s mayor.

“I’m not asking that they stop; I’m demanding that they stop,” Lyons mentioned. “Right here’s what I’ve to say to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and anybody else stirring up the outrage about what ICE does.

“These are real people with real families you’re hurting with your ridiculous rhetoric and inflammatory comments and it’s time to remember that,” he mentioned.

Lyons was not particular about which remarks prompted his message, however the video was posted hours after Wu spoke at size with reporters at Metropolis Corridor earlier within the day about Foley “attacking” her over an interview she gave to WBUR final week, the place she referred to federal immigration authorities as secret police.

The mayor, who has tussled with the Trump administration and Congress over immigration and mass deportations, instructed the outlet that persons are “getting snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks and can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then detained.”

Foley known as the mayor’s feedback a “gross misrepresentation and disservice to the public,” saying that ICE authorities are “arresting individuals who are here illegally, which is a violation of federal law.”

“Federal agents in marked jackets and vests are masking their faces because people like Mayor Wu have created false narratives about their mission,” Foley mentioned. “Federal agents and their children are being threatened, doxxed and assaulted. That is why they must hide their faces.”

Wu doubled down on her remarks to reporters Wednesday, however went a step additional, by seemingly evaluating ICE brokers who put on masks to the neo-Nazi group, NSC-131, saying that they’re “intimidating residents.”

“I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks,” Wu mentioned. “We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC-131 routinely wears masks.”

When requested particularly whether or not she was evaluating ICE to the neo-Nazi group based mostly in New England, Wu didn’t say no.

“What I said is that Boston police, and no other police department that I know of at the local level, routinely wears masks,” Wu mentioned.

Her remarks drew a recent spherical of criticism from federal officers, together with the White Home, on Thursday. The White Home’s official speedy response account posted a video of the trade, which it described as “shocking,” whereas the Division of Homeland Safety known as the comparability “sickening.”

“Mayor Wu comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is sickening,” DHS posted on X. “When our heroic legislation enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly establish themselves as legislation enforcement whereas sporting masks to guard themselves from being focused by identified and suspected gang members.

“Attacks and demonization of our brave law enforcement is wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults,” the federal division mentioned.

Wu didn’t again down from her feedback about ICE being “secret police” who put on masks, when requested concerning the matter once more at a Thursday marketing campaign occasion, however notably didn’t convey up the neo-Nazi comparability once more.

“The U.S. attorney is attacking me for saying what Bostonians see with their own eyes,” Wu mentioned. “We’ve seen the movies. We’ve seen it in our neighborhoods, on our streets.

“And what other definition of secret police is there when people are getting snatched off the street by masked individuals, not being told where they’re going, disappearing until someone somehow finds some information, not given justification for why they are being taken?” the mayor added.

Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Affiliation, town’s largest police union, danced a effective line, when requested Thursday whether or not he agreed with the mayor’s evaluation about ICE being secret police.

“As a police officer, I can tell you that I’m not going to second-guess what’s going on at a federal level, nor am I going to speak for the mayor and her interpretation of what she’s saying about what’s going on with federal police officers,” Calderone mentioned.

“I will back the mayor up and tell you that any police officer, any law enforcement member in the commonwealth that’s having a problem, our membership will respond, defend them, help them and protect the citizen and what’s going on.”