Mayor Michelle Wu offered a forceful defense of the city’s decade-old Trust Act, a policy that limits Boston police cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during a testy House Oversight hearing in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
With federal dollars on the line and threats of prosecution bandied about by several members of Congress, here are five illustrative exchanges between the mayor – the daughter of immigrants from Taiwan – and House lawmakers.
1. “Would you turn this criminal over?”
Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Oversight Committe, pressed Wu about whether she would hand over an undocumented immigrant who was charged with raping and impregnating his daughter while staying in a state-run shelter in Marlborough.
Comer: “Mayor Wu, would you turn this criminal over to ICE on a detainer?”
Wu: “Whenever there is a criminal detainer, Boston police enforce that and hold people accountable.”
Comer: “Would you turn that criminal over to ICE?”
Wu: “This happened outside of the City of Boston, but I can tell you in the city, whenever someone commits a crime, whenever there’s a criminal warrant, we hold them accountable. If ICE deems that they are dangerous enough to hold, obtain a criminal warrant and the Boston Police will enforce it.”
Comer: “Would you turn that criminal over to ICE?”
Wu: “We follow the laws–”
Comer: “That’s a no.”
2. “Mayor Wu, I’ll be showing up at your house tomorrow.”
Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, drew a parallel between undocumented immigrants and unwelcome house guests.
Gosar: “Mayor Wu, I’ll be showing up at your house tomorrow with my bags at 5 o’clock. Leave your doors unlocked please. What are you making for dinner? Because I expect a warm meal and a balanced diet. Now I’m gonna need a car and please leave me some cash, because I’m gonna need to go to my doctor’s appointment on Friday. … You obviously wouldn’t like this, because you don’t know me, right? You know nothing about me. Sanctuary cities offer this kind of hope, false hope, to illegal aliens. You’re saying that very thing: ‘Stay with me. We won’t tell anybody that you break our laws.’ You’ve made the United States complicit and one of the largest purveyors of human trafficking in the world. You’re disgracing the legal immigration system and the immigrants that came here the right way.”
Gosar continues, saying that the sanctuary cities have a “false narrative” by defending “folks who have broken the law” and offering a “false hope” and a “false trust.” He asked what happens when there are conflicts between federal, state, and city laws.
Wu: “The Constitution, as I understand it, doesn’t require cities or police officers or anyone to follow federal laws in conflict with local or state laws.”
Gosar suggested that there cannot be a comprehensive immigration policy built on “false premises.”
Wu: “Respectfully, congressman, you could pass bipartisan legislation and that would be comprehensive immigration law. The false narrative is that immigrants in general are criminals, or that immigrants in general cause all sorts of danger and harm. That is actually what is undermining safety in our communities. If you wanted to make us safe, pass gun reforms. Stop cutting Medicaid. Stop cutting cancer research. Stop cutting funds for veterans. That is what will make our city safe.”
3. “Do you believe the United States should have an immigration law?”
Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican, asked each mayor about what kind of immigration law they expect from the federal government.
Grothman: “Do you believe the United States should have an immigration law, or just anybody should be able to show up and come in?”
After other mayors responded that there should be an immigration law, Wu responded: “Yes, I do believe cities everywhere clearly need an immigration law that has secure borders, comprehensive and consistent and compassionate pathways to residency and citizenship, resources to adjudicate the complexities of the law. At the same time, I do not support mass deportation. That would be devastating for our economy and there are millions of people who are running our small businesses, going to our schools–”
Chair Comer ended the response.
4. “Local leaders … know better than the White House does.”
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat from Arizona, with a staffer holding up a sign citing a USA Today article titled “Thousands of DHS agents shift to deportation instead of drugs, weapons and human trafficking,” asked the mayors about the impacts on local law enforcement if they are diverted to immigration work.
Ansari: “I want to shift to the economy. Mayor Wu, would you agree that local leaders and public safety officials who hear directly from constituents about public safety know better what your city needs to focus on than the White House does? And, also, are you worried about ICE raids and the impact that it will have for businesses and economic prosperity?”
Wu: “Yes, our local community knows best. And we can tell you in Boston over our history it has not been the word of presidents or kings, or presidents who think they are kings, that set what happens. It is our residents.”
5. “Are you out of your mind?”
Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, pushed each mayor on the amount of money spent on services for undocumented people in the past few years, which Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said was 1 percent of the city budget, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said was about $79 million spent on all new arrivals, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams estimated at $6.9 billion.
Donalds: “$6.9 billion of taxpayer money on a problem that was fostered [sic] on the American people. Mayor Wu, in the City of Boston, how much did you spend?”
Wu: “We don’t ask about immigration status in delivering city services.”
Donalds: “You don’t ask about how much money the City of Boston has spent on illegal immigration? Are you out of your mind?”
Wu: “We don’t distinguish between immigration status as part of our city policy.”
Donalds (interrupting): “Do you manage your budget or not, Mayor Wu?”
Wu: “We have the numbers to prove it. I manage my budget. I have a Triple-A bond rating dating back 10 years–”
Donalds (interrupting): “So to the City of Boston, just understand that your mayor does not care how much of your resources she has spent on people who are not citizens.”
Wu: “The City of Boston is sick of having people outside Boston telling us what we need.”
The post ‘Are you out of your mind?’: Five moments from Mayor Michelle Wu’s immigration testimony appeared first on CommonWealth Beacon.