Appearing ICE Director Todd Lyons stated federal immigration authorities plan to “flood” Boston in response to Mayor Michelle Wu’s refusal to dismantle the town’s sanctuary protections, as ordered by the Trump administration.
Talking on “The Howie Carr Show” Wednesday, Lyons stated his response to Wu’s acknowledged intention to defy the federal order is that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, generally known as ICE, is “going to keep making Boston safe, as she’s failing to do with the sanctuary city policies.”
“We did Operation Patriot March which yielded over 1,000 arrests, and now you’re going to see more ICE agents come to Boston to make sure that we take these public threats out that she wants to let go back in the communities,” Lyons stated. “We’re going to keep making America safe.”
Requested by Carr if ICE was planning to “surge” the town of Boston akin to President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in Washington, D.C, the place ICE brokers have reportedly appeared alongside the Nationwide Guard and federal brokers, Lyons stated there could be a bigger presence in Boston following Wu’s remarks on Tuesday.
“We’re definitely going to … flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions,” Lyons stated. “Boston and Massachusetts decided to say that they wanted to stay sanctuary. Sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood. But 100%, you will see a larger ICE presence.”
Lyons’ radio interview represented one of many first indications of how the Trump administration is reacting to a defiant press convention held by Mayor Wu on Metropolis Corridor Plaza Tuesday, when she acknowledged that the town has no intention of complying with Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi’s order to dismantle its native sanctuary legislation.
“The U.S. Attorney General asked for a response today, so here it is,” Wu stated on the press convention. “Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures. Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law, and Boston will not back down from who we are or what we stand for. We will not back away from our community that has made us the safest city in the country.”
Bondi had given Wu a Tuesday deadline to reply to a letter she despatched final week to leaders of cities and states recognized by the Division of Justice as sanctuary jurisdictions, with an order to “eliminate laws, policies and practices that impede federal law enforcement.”
In Boston, the legislation on the books enshrining its sanctuary standing since 2014 is the Belief Act, which prohibits native police and different metropolis departments from cooperating with federal immigration authorities on the subject of detaining unlawful immigrants on civil warrants.
Metropolis officers say the legislation nonetheless permits for native cooperation with the feds on sure felony issues like drug, weapons and human trafficking.
However Lyons stated ICE has been discovering that the state of Massachusetts, together with Boston, has been ignoring ICE detainers or releasing “criminal aliens” convicted of crimes in america and overseas again into society, whereas once more referencing the practically 1,500 unlawful immigrant arrests made throughout Operation Patriot.
“So not only do we have to go ahead and go after the ones we were targeting, but we have to also deal with jurisdictions releasing criminal aliens in real time while we’re out there working the streets,” Lyons stated. “It’s not making anyone safer.”
Lyons additionally acknowledged that Boston Police, whereas prohibited in some cases from cooperating with ICE by the use of the town’s Belief Act, is usually serving to federal authorities “behind the scenes,” unbeknownst to Mayor Wu.
These Boston cops can’t cooperate brazenly with ICE out of worry of “getting in trouble or getting fired,” Lyons stated.
“That’s the issue we’re seeing in so many jurisdictions,” Lyons stated. “We’ve so many women and men on the Boston Police Division and different jurisdictions which can be so pro-ICE, that need to work with us and which can be really serving to us behind the scenes.
“And that’s what I think local leaders don’t understand, is they need to talk to the men and women on the ground, because … there are so many of these criminal aliens that keep getting released to go out and commit more crimes that the local law enforcement have to deal with. We can take that violent criminal alien instantly out of the neighborhood,” the ICE director added.
Lawyer Normal Bondi has additionally threatened to prosecute metropolis officers and withhold federal funds until Boston cooperates with mass deportations, Wu stated at Tuesday’s press convention.
Bondi elaborated on potential penalties for Boston and different recognized sanctuary jurisdictions that didn’t comply together with her directive on a Monday Fox Information look.
“If they don’t comply with us, we’re going to work with other agencies to cut off their federal funding,” Bondi stated. “We are going to send in law enforcement just like we did during the LA riots, just like we’re doing here in Washington, D.C. And if they’re not going to keep their citizens safe, Donald Trump will keep them safe.”
Wu stated on a “Java with Jimmy” podcast look Wednesday that efforts to chop federal funding to cities that the president dislikes are unlawful, because the $300 million in federal funds Boston depends on annually is earmarked via Congress based mostly on census counts that decide how a lot cash is allotted to municipalities.
She additionally talked about that, as mayor, she was imposing an area legislation, the Belief Act, that had been on the books on the metropolis and state stage previous to her administration, since 2014, “and we’ve done fine in that period when it comes to safety.”
At her press convention, Wu stated Boston was ready ought to the federal authorities search to intervene within the metropolis’s legislation enforcement efforts, whereas referencing the Nationwide Guard deployment in latest months to LA and D.C.
“We also stand with those cities as they sue over his abuse of power,” Wu stated. “We have reviewed those cases and we are prepared to stand up for our city’s rights if we need to.”
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