In a defiant speech Tuesday, Mayor Michelle Wu complained about the letter sent to the City of Boston from Attorney General Pam Bondi. The letter, which was sent to 12 cities and 18 states, threatens state and local politicians with criminal prosecution if they use their authority to “obstruct federal immigration efforts” and “facilitate” illegal immigration.
Mayor Wu called the threats in the letter “serious and consequential” from an administration she said is causing “fear and harm” in cities and communities across the country.
“But our same communities have told me loud and clear,” Wu continued, “that silence in the face of oppression is not an option."
Michelle Wu’s claim that ICE operating in Boston is “oppression” comes after she compared mask-wearing ICE agents to Neo-Nazis in June.
Wu, who is described by critics as a communist, is known for bizarre and outlandish behavior. An open records request uncovered an email from her office, naming 15 political enemies, that was sent to the Boston Police Department. Last year, her office had to rescind party invitations to white city council members who were mistakenly invited to a minority-only Christmas party.
Brian Camenker, a conservative activist who lives outside Boston, leads the grassroots group MassResistance. He has tangled with Massachusetts liberals going back decades and bluntly calls Mayor Wu a "whack job" and a communist.
"Everything she does is just off-the-charts bad," he complains. "You name a destructive policy and she's for it."
On the same day of Mayor Wu's defiant speech, an X post by Fox New correspondent Bill Melugin reminded the public that ICE agents have been making big arrests in Boston without the help of the police. His post points out ICE agents have arrested four illegal aliens (pictured at top) for deportation. Their combined criminal charges include rape, fentanyl trafficking, firearms trafficking, assault to rape, assault with a deadly weapon, strangulation, and sexual assault of a child.
All four of them were released by the Boston Police Department after an ICE detainer went ignored, Melugin, who also described more arrests, said.
“Every ride along I’ve done with ICE in Boston,” Melugin wrote, “has resulted in the arrest of illegal alien child rapists, murderers, etc., all of whom were wandering freely.”
Despite those examples of keeping her city safe, Mayor Wu claimed in her speech the Trump administration is “wrong on the law, and you are wrong on safety.”
She went on to say the cities that “live in your mind are totally foreign to the residents living in our cities.”
Wisconsin judge learned legal lesson
Asked about the legal standoff, attorney Abraham Hamilton III says politicians such as Mayor Wu are being warned they don’t have the legal authority to violate federal law.
“And where you are found violating federal law,” he says, “you too could face criminal prosecution."
Hamilton, now general counsel at the American Family Association, is himself a former assistant district attorney. He likens the DOJ threat to Hanna Dugan, the liberal Wisconsin judge. She famously helped an illegal alien escape her courtroom after she learned ICE agents were waiting for him.
“Well, she’s now been removed from the bench and been criminally prosecuted,” he points out.
Bondi's threatening letter is not guaranteed to work. Her threat of legal action comes after the Department of Justice recently lost a closely-watched sanctuary lawsuit against the City of Chicago and Cook County. A federal judge’s ruling, handed down in July, dismissed the case but gave the DOJ an opportunity to amend its complaint and try again.
Dems who defied ICE now playing dumb
Despite boasting about their sanctuary polices, many defiant Democrats who brag they are defying the Trump administration are also claiming they are not violating federal laws.
Connecticut's governor, for example, has defended a state law called the Trust Act. Even though the law bans cooperation with ICE, Gov. Ned Lamont has said the law doesn't make the state a "sanctuary in any legal or practical sense."
Colorado’s governor Jared Polis has said the State of Colorado cooperates with the federal government on crime but insists immigration is a civil issue.
Gov. Polis (pictured at right) also signed a law in May that restricts local law enforcement from communicating with ICE agents.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced in July his office is investigating a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy who violated that state law. The deputy informed ICE agents about a 19-year-old he had encountered during a traffic stop.
Weiser’s criminal pursuit of the deputy is mentioned in the DOJ’s letter sent to Colorado.
