Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is creating a potentially dangerous standoff by telling migrants here illegally that it was “safe” to call 911 and other city services, despite newly elected President Donald Trump’s plan to use the FBI to launch mass deportations.
“Reaching city services, whether it’s calling 911 when you need it or taking your child to school — those are all city services that have nothing to do with immigration enforcement,” Wu said during a TV appearance on weekends. “And we will continue to protect our residents within those spaces.”
How far will Wu go to protect illegal immigrants? Does she make a promise she can’t keep? What will calling 911 do?
That is unclear because Wu, as usual, gave conflicting answers when asked about Trump’s promise to declare a national emergency to start mass deportations.
Will she use the police to protect them from the FBI? Use taxpayer money to go to court to block deportations? Move them to secret locations? Federal funding risk?
Her lame answers didn’t address these questions and she was never pressured by the non-confrontational questions on the show, where she only said she would protect residents from Trump’s actions “in any way possible.”
“Elections have consequences, and the federal government is responsible for a certain set of actions, and cities — not individual cities — can undo or override some parts of that,” she said.
Yes, we know that cities cannot overturn elections or federal policies. And the “but” part of Wu’s answer shed little light on how she will respond to Trump’s plans.
“But what we can do is ensure that we do our part to protect our residents in every way possible; that we will not participate in those efforts that actually threaten the safety of everyone by causing widespread fear and having large-scale economic consequences.”
What does protecting our residents mean? How does ‘causing widespread fear’ threaten security?
Will she order the police to “protect” the immigrants who are not here legally and are at risk of deportation? Does this mean we should actively hinder ICE from going after rapists and criminals?
All we know is that under the city’s Sanctuary City Act, police and other city agencies cannot cooperate with the FBI in detaining illegal immigrants on civil warrants, not criminal warrants.
But Trump has vowed to ignore sanctuary city designations to crack down on illegal immigration, especially those wanted here on criminal charges.
Wu is in a tough situation and she knows it. She faces a re-election race next year as one of the country’s leading Democratic liberals, and Trump was just elected on a nationwide Republican mandate to reject those liberal policies.
Even in heavily Democratic Boston, Trump made big gains in working-class voting districts.
Wu has never shown much backbone on the illegal immigration issue, nor has he done anything to stop the state from taking over a community property – a recreation center – to house migrants.
The mayor faces a potential challenge in 2025 from City Councilman Ed Flynn, who is trying to appeal to moderate and conservative voters, and wealthy philanthropist Josh Kraft, who recently became a Democrat but could put millions of dollars into his campaign coffers.
So when she plays politics by making cryptic comments about immigrant protections, it raises some tough questions that she hasn’t yet answered. It doesn’t show real leadership.