Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is threatening private property owners not to lease parking space to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The mayor sent the letter in response to a public notice from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeking more space to accommodate upcoming immigration enforcement surges in 14 cities, including Boston.
Wu said that renting space to ICE “would constitute an unprovoked and unwarranted escalation, creating potentially significant risks to public safety and halting economic activity across our entire region.”
The operations, which have largely targeted criminal illegal migrants, would make the city less safe, Wu claimed.
She wrote:
ICE’s threats against cities are not new. This federal administration has used ICE surge operations to attack peaceful American cities with deadly and disastrous consequences, from Biddeford, ME to Houston, TX. In February, following the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, MN, I joined together with six other cities across Greater Boston and signed Executive Orders prohibiting ICE from staging its operations on municipal property and parking lots.
“Today, I ask you to join us: Reject any proposition by ICE to facilitate an attack on the people of Boston,” she added.
As a subtle threat, Wu noted she filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out which businesses in the city had offered to partner with DHS.
Citizens, Wu included, are of course free to ask who the federal government is working with on immigration enforcement. Government contracts should be public information.
But the message is clear from the Boston mayor: You better not work with ICE or there will be consequences.
DHS responded to the threats, calling them “unhinged.”
“These actions by sanctuary Mayor Michelle Wu are unhinged,” an Aug. 18 X post read. “She knows she has NO authority to block us from using private property.”
The department accused Wu of “hunting down private property owners and threatening them for working with ICE – because she’d rather intimidate law-abiding Bostonians than get criminal illegal aliens OFF the street.”
These actions by sanctuary Mayor Michelle Wu are unhinged.
She knows she has NO authority to block us from using private property.
So she’s hunting down private property owners and threatening them for working with ICE — because she’d rather intimidate law-abiding Bostonians… pic.twitter.com/ZmYsjCSt9H
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 18, 2026
Wu has long favored criminal illegal immigrants over ICE agents who are enforcing the rule of law. She has compared law enforcement agents to neo-Nazis for wearing masks, as Legal Insurrection has previously reported.
She also refused to allow ICE to use city property and promised to look into ways to criminally prosecute federal agents.
Her resistance to law enforcement has not completely stopped immigration agents from making Boston safer.
🚨 SHOCKING: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu compares ICE agents to neo-Nazis:
“I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks. We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC-131 routinely wears masks.”
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 5, 2025
A 32-year-old Guatemalan national and registered sex offender who is pending criminal charges in Boston for five counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over. He was previously arrested for aggravated rape of child with a 10-year age gap. pic.twitter.com/07rg88oaTO
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 5, 2025
A 37-year-old Honduran national whose most recent arrest was for rape, indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, witness intimidation, and kidnapping of a minor by relative. pic.twitter.com/YcmNoZrjGm
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 5, 2025
Matt Lamb currently works as an associate editor for The College Fix. He also contributes to a variety of websites, including Human Life Review and AMAC Newsline. His work has been published by The Federalist, Townhall, and The Daily Caller. He has worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
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