Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
‘This isn’t about me’: Wu hits back at Trump border czar Tom Homan over deportation rhetoric
“Our policies at the local level are in the interest of public safety and our record backs it up.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu hit back at President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan on Wednesday, days after the nominee to head up the new administration’s deportation plans criticized the mayor on a conservative news network.
“People can say whatever they want about me,” Wu told reporters on Wednesday, according to CommonWealth Beacon. “This isn’t about me. Our public safety record speaks for itself. We are the safest major city in America, here in Boston. And it’s because of the work that’s put in every day to build trust between our residents and law enforcement, and it’s because of our focus on making sure we are there when residents need us.”
Advertisement:
Homan blasted Wu during an interview on Newsmax Monday over comments she made the day before on WCVB’s “On The Record.” During the appearance, Wu reiterated previous statements she’d made that Boston’s resources and personnel, including police, are not expected to cooperate with federal agents attempting to detain migrants on civil warrants in the city.
“She’s not very smart, I’ll give her that,” Homan said. “What I just said is President Trump is going to prioritize public safety threats.”
“Either she helps us or gets the hell out of the way because we’re going to do it,” he went on to say. “And look, there’s a clear line here. … They can not cooperate, but there are certain laws in place that they can’t cross and I hope she doesn’t cross it.”
Advertisement:
Trump campaigned on carrying out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Homan, a former Border Patrol agent who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2017 and 2018, has said he plans to “run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.”At other times, he has said that the administration will not conduct roundups of immigrants and instead will move forward in a “humane manner.”
In the last week, Wu has repeatedly pointed towards an existing law in Boston, passed in 2014, that prohibits Boston police officers from coordinating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a number of scenarios.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Wu again pointed to the law, noting that its passage had the support of the police department and public safety officials who recognized that residents need to feel safe reaching out to 9-1-1 when they need help or to share information about crimes that take place.
“We have clear provisions where in the spaces where there are criminal actions that have taken place or on particular types of cooperation, like human trafficking, drug trafficking, child exploitation, cyber crimes, those are spaces that are very clearly laid out where the city does work alongside every level of government to protect our residents,” Wu said, according to CommonWealth Beacon.
Advertisement:
“Our policies at the local level are the interest of public safety and our record backs it up,” she said.
The mayor and Harvard graduate accused the incoming Republican administration of “talking out of both sides of their mouth” by making mass deportations a campaign promise and then saying it will only prioritize cases related to criminal activity.
Wu said her administration is reaching out to the “broader community” to ensure people know about the spaces where “the city of Boston does not interact with and does not communicate around immigration status.”
“So you know you are safe in accessing public safety at the local level, in bringing your kid to school, in coming to our community centers,” Wu said. “The federal government does what the federal government does. And no city has the authority to override that. Elections have consequences. But we are also elected here in Boston to do what we do, and to focus on our work at the local level.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com