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Wu prepares to face hostile GOP grilling in Congress over immigration policy
Mayor Michelle Wu is girding for battle. She's scheduled to testify before Congress Wednesday alongside three other mayors — all representing major cities that Republicans have accused of not fully cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Republicans leading the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee say they’re holding the mayors “publicly accountable” for the way they handle immigration enforcement. The committee has said it’s investigating “sanctuary cities” and is threatening to withhold federal funding from Boston, as well as New York, Chicago and Denver.
Wu’s appearance could have big repercussions for the city. The Justice Department has sued Chicago and New York state over their stances on immigration, and has taken steps to cut federal funding to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.
A clash between the committee's GOP members and Wu has been all but inevitable since Donald Trump was reelected president, and his border czar, Tom Homan, began lashing out at Boston city officials.
“They don't have to help us, but they need to get the hell out of the way because we're coming, we're gonna do it,” Homan told NewsMax in November, “which means if I’ve got to send twice as many resources to that sanctuary city — twice as many agents — that's exactly what I'm going to do.”
More recently, Homan threatened he’s coming to Boston and “bringing hell” with him. Wu has been steadfast in defending Boston, saying it’s the safest major city in the country. Boston's “Trust Act” bars police from pursuing people based only on civil immigration violations. However, in criminal matters, police do cooperate and will detain people when asked by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“We are going to keep doing what we do because we are in full compliance with the laws,” Wu recently told WBUR’s Morning Edition.
Observers expect Wu and the other mayors to face a barrage of criticism and accusations at the hearing Wednesday. The GOP has targeted Boston for weeks, embedding Fox News with ICE agents to showcase immigrant arrests and releasing a hype video ahead of the congressional hearing, painting the city as a haven for bad actors.
The committee’s chair, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, said Boston and other three cities are hindering the removal of “dangerous criminals from American communities.”
Wu dismissed the video as “dramatic.”
Officials and experts around the state are watching the fight closely.
“It's political theater, but I think there's a big potential threat to all of this in how dependent the state and the city are on federal money,” said Gregory Maynard of the nonprofit Boston Policy Institute.
For some, Wu’s trip to D.C. recalls the Ivy League school presidents summoned to Congress last year over campus protests. The heads of Harvard, Cornell and Columbia universities all later stepped down from their roles. Now, Maynard said, it’s the mayors facing the fire.
“We'll find out if mayors are any better at doing Congressional testimony than Ivy League presidents,” he said.
Wu has been preparing for the hearing with the city’s legal department, Boston Police and other senior leaders. The city retained the Cahill Gordon & Reindel, a law firm with an office in Washington, for work related to the hearing and the related committee investigation. The firm’s hourly rate is $950 and the city expects the final bill to be as much as $650,000, as first reported by The Boston Globe and confirmed to WBUR by Wu’s office.
Wu and members of the Massachusetts delegation struck a defiant tone at a press conference Tuesday in Washington. “We are a city that throws open the doors of opportunity for all of our residents, at a time when this administration in the White House is slamming them shut,” Wu said.
Wu is bringing a big endorsement with her to D.C., from Boston’s largest police union, which is backing her bid for re-election.
“We have a great relationship with the mayor,” Larry Calderone, head of the Boston Police Patrolman’s Association, recently told reporters. “What we are going to do as police officers is what we do every day — we're going to enforce the laws in the commonwealth. And that's what's going on here in Boston.”
“We are a city that throws open the doors of opportunity for all of our residents, at a time when this administration in the White House is slamming them shut.”
Mayor Michelle Wu
Gov. Maura Healey, in an interview aired over the weekend with the New York Times, scoffed at Homan’s threats to Boston. “I don’t really even know what he’s talking about to be honest,” she said.
According to Healey, Massachusetts State Police “regularly work with Homeland Security, ATF, FBI, DEA, on the investigation and prosecution of folks, including folks who are undocumented, who are committing crimes … that was the way before Trump. It will be the way after Trump.”
A high court ruling in Massachusetts from 2017 found it was unlawful for local law enforcement to hold or arrest people solely on the basis of an ICE detainer.
Proponents of that finding, and Boston's Trust Act, say the point is to boost public safety — they argue immigrants are more likely to cooperate with local police if they don’t fear they’ll be turned in to immigration authorities.
Last month, interfaith clergy from across Boston met with Wu to voice the fears their immigrant congregants are feeling; many no longer attend services, they said, for fear of immigration raids.
While Wu’s backers urge her to stand up to Congress, some locals want to see police working more proactively with ICE agents.
“ The most important thing that I want to come out of this is safety for the citizens, and non-citizens of Boston — for the residents of Boston,” said Louis Murray, co-founder of the group Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities. He said he thinks the hearing will give the nation “a good look at just how dysfunctional the city is.”
The House oversight panel has 26 Republicans, among whom are conservative firebrands Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. The 21 Democratic committee members include Massachusetts Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Stephen Lynch, as well as progressive flag holders Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Lynch and Pressley both represent parts of Boston.
Also in D.C. this week is Carol Rose, head of the ACLU of Massachusetts, along with faith leaders and community activists. Rose said they want to support Boston’s mayor as she faces “interrogation” by “bullies.”
“ Boston and Massachusetts have every right to focus on serving our residents,” Rose said, “and not necessarily doing the bidding of federal agents who are trying to disparage and disrupt our communities.”
Back in Boston, City Councilor Ed Flynn, one of Wu's most vocal critics, said he'll be watching the hearing. Asked what he thinks about Republicans threatening to “bring hell” to Boston, Flynn expressed optimism about the hearing.
“What I hope that would come out of this is there's an honest and transparent, but also civil conversation between city officials and federal officials,” Flynn said.
Civil or not, the House oversight hearing kicks off at 10 a.m. Wednesday. It's expected to last six hours.
