Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s pictures at federal officers throughout her State of the Metropolis deal with didn’t go unnoticed by President Trump and the White Home, which rapidly bashed Wu as a “radical” who prioritizes “violent criminal illegal aliens.”
In a press release blasted out Thursday by the use of an official White Home communications e-mail, the Trump administration slammed defiant remarks the progressive mayor made round Boston’s dedication to proceed defending the town’s unlawful immigrants amid the president’s vow to hold out mass deportations.
“Last night, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu doubled down on giving sanctuary to violent criminal illegal immigrants,” the White Home assertion mentioned.
The press launch then hyperlinks to a snippet of the mayor’s State of the Metropolis speech shared on X late Thursday morning by the “Official Rapid Response Account of the Trump 47 White House.”
Within the social media clip, Wu states, “We stand with immigrants. You belong here.”
“Boston doesn’t back down,” Wu mentioned to loud applause. “We are a city where the Irish coffee is strong and our opinions are stronger. We may not always agree or see eye to eye, but at the end of the day, we are a family.
“If you come for one of us, you will get all of us,” the mayor mentioned.
Wu was one in every of 4 big-city mayors to testify earlier than a Congressional oversight committee earlier this month as a part of the committee’s probe into sanctuary jurisdictions and their affect on public security.
After the listening to, a Home Republican referred Wu and two of the opposite collaborating mayors to the Division of Justice for investigation.
Boston’s sanctuary standing is enshrined within the Boston Belief Act, a 2014 native legislation that prohibits metropolis police and different departments from cooperating with federal authorities on civil immigration detainers. The coverage was amended in 2019, and reaffirmed by the Boston Metropolis Council final December.
Whereas not shared within the clip the White Home launch hyperlinks to, Wu, in her Wednesday evening speech, referenced latest remarks made by Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who vowed to convey “hell” to Boston attributable to its sanctuary insurance policies.
“We were built on the values this federal administration seeks to tear down,” Wu mentioned. “But for 395 years and counting, come high water or hell — no matter who threatens to bring it — Boston has stood up for the people we love and the country we built, and we’re not stopping now.”
The White Home e-mail additionally hyperlinks to quite a lot of press releases from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, relating to arrests ICE Boston has manufactured from unlawful immigrants charged with numerous crimes together with rape of a kid, intercourse crimes, medication and weapons offenses, and armed theft.
The highlighted incidents, whereas involving arrests made by the ICE Boston workplace, weren’t all for crimes that allegedly occurred in Boston or had been allegedly dedicated in opposition to Boston residents.
A number of the incidents allegedly occurred in Boston, whereas others had been allegedly dedicated in different elements of Massachusetts like Lawrence and Falmouth.
However, the White Home communication solely takes intention at Wu, with the headline, “Boston’s radical mayor puts violent criminal illegal aliens first.”
It additionally introduces the linked immigration crime press releases, by saying, “Here are just a few examples of the criminals recently arrested by ICE Boston that Mayor Wu is defending.”
The White Home additional cites a latest ballot from AP-NORC that discovered 83% of adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favor “deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who have been convicted of a violent crime.”
“This begs the question,” the White Home e-mail states. “Why is Mayor Wu intent on defying the will of the American people and obstructing the Trump administration’s efforts to remove these monsters from our streets?”
Mayor Wu hit again on the White Home on Thursday evening.
“Last night I spoke to the people of Boston about our work to improve the lives of our residents and continue Boston’s historic legacy for the public good,” Wu mentioned in a press release. “I’m glad that the White House watched the speech, but Boston’s record does not match their reckless propaganda.
“Boston is proud to be the safest major city in the country, and we work with all levels of law enforcement every day to prevent crime and hold perpetrators accountable,” Wu mentioned. “If the Trump administration is truly concerned about safety, they should fund healthcare and education, support our veterans, pass common sense gun reforms, and stop threatening our economy.”
