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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu will surely face a hostile environment from House Republicans when she testifies about immigration enforcement on Wednesday.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is heading to Washington this week, where she will testify before House lawmakers about Boston’s sanctuary policies and the city’s approach to immigration enforcement.
Wu is gearing up to announce her official bid for reelection and faces a potentially tough matchup against Josh Kraft. The hearing will offer Wu a major platform to make the case that Boston’s policies are working and that the city is headed in the right direction. But she will not get a warm welcome from many on the GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and there could be substantial political risks for her as well.
The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5. In the meantime, here’s what to know before the high-profile event.
Why was Wu asked to testify?
With President Donald Trump having campaigned on promises of mass deportations, immigration enforcement could be the defining issue of his second term. And Trump and his allies wasted no time picking public fights with sanctuary cities like Boston.
While there is no single standardized definition of what constitutes a sanctuary city, the term broadly applies to places where existing laws limit coordination between local police and federal law enforcement when it comes to civil immigration enforcement. To Republicans in Congress, these policies are “pro-illegal alien” attempts to shield criminals from justice. To Democratic leaders like Wu, they crucially improve public safety by fostering trust between immigrants and local police.
Trump issued executive orders that threaten to cut off federal funding from sanctuary cities, and there is pending legislation that would do the same.
Wu was asked to testify alongside mayors Eric Adams of New York City, Brandon Johnson of Chicago, and Mike Johnston of Denver. She received a letter from Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, on Jan. 27.
“Sanctuary jurisdictions and their misguided and obstructionist policies hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities, making Americans less safe,” Comer wrote.
Since Boston refuses to “fully cooperate” with federal immigration enforcement, Comer requested that Wu testify and provide certain documents and communications about the city’s sanctuary policies. Although hundreds of jurisdictions exist around the country with similar policies, Boston, New York City, Chicago, and Denver “stand out in their abject failure” to comply with federal law, Comer wrote.
He specifically mentioned the Boston Trust Act, the city’s sanctuary policy. It was originally enacted in 2014, amended in 2019, and reaffirmed by the City Council last year. Both Wu and her predecessor, Mayor Marty Walsh, championed the law, and it has received unanimous support from the City Council over the years.
Under the Boston Trust Act, the Boston Police Department is directed to collaborate with ICE only on issues of significant public safety importance, like cases of child exploitation and human trafficking.
Comer also made sure to reference Lunn v. Commonwealth, the 2017 case that led the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to rule that local authorities cannot arrest and hold someone solely on the basis of a federal civil immigration detainer.
While local officials cannot impede the work of federal immigration authorities, under the 10th Amendment they are under no obligation to provide their own resources to help.
On Fox News this week, Comer acknowledged that ICE would “probably” need cooperation from local law enforcement in order to meet Trump’s deportation goals. He said that he wants to ask the mayors about how undocumented immigrants came to their cities, the role of non-governmental organizations, if local officials are “signing these people up for Medicaid,” and more.
“They want to continue, again, to defy the law,” Comer said. “We have a lot of questions about whether or not they’re going to comply with federal law, whether they’re going to continue to harbor the illegals, and whether they’re going to continue to operate as illegal sanctuary cities.”
How has the mayor responded?
Months before receiving Comer’s letter, Wu was already in the crosshairs of Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan. Right after Trump’s electoral victory, Wu stressed the importance of the Boston Trust Act. She said that local law enforcement would not be expected or required to help with mass deportations of people who are not involved in serious criminal activity just to fulfill Trump’s campaign promises. She insists that the BPD has and will continue to help federal officials with criminal matters.
But Wu’s comments caught the attention of Homan. He insulted Wu’s intelligence and said that she could either help him or get “the hell out of the way.” Wu responded by saying that the situation was not about her, and that Boston’s impressive public safety shows the value of the sanctuary policies.
Wu gave birth to her third child in January and took some time to work remotely immediately afterward. Comer initially asked Wu to testify on Feb. 11. Citing the health risks associated with traveling so soon after giving birth, Wu asked for and was granted more time to respond.
Although Wu voluntarily agreed to testify, she told WBUR recently that she felt a “very strong implication” that she could be subpoenaed by the congressional lawmakers.
She is using the extra time to meet with faith leaders about how they navigate immigration enforcement and to speak directly to concerned residents in Spanish.
But the extra time has also given Homan and other Republicans like Comer more opportunities to attack Boston and its leaders. Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last month, Homan told a roaring crowd that he would be “bringing hell” to the city. Homan called out BPD Commissioner Michael Cox, saying he “forgot what it was like to be a cop” and is instead operating more as a politician.
Cox is in lockstep with Wu, and has reiterated that the BPD does not have the authority to enforce federal immigration law.
Homan vaguely cited statewide data in attacking Cox, who only oversees police activity in Boston. The BPD and other police departments in Massachusetts routinely do not act on ICE detainer requests. ICE uses detainer requests to ask local police to hold immigrants eligible for deportation for longer so that they can be transferred to ICE custody. A detainer request is not mandatory and is not the same thing as a judicial warrant.
The reality is that Cox, and other police leaders in Massachusetts, do not have much of a say in the matter due to the 2017 SJC ruling.
Wu stood by Cox in the wake of Homan’s attack.
“This is our city. We’re going to continue following & enforcing the laws to keep all Bostonians safe. And it goes without saying that our police commissioner has my complete confidence & support,” she wrote in a Bluesky post.
The mayor is also using social media to attack House Republicans as a whole. She mocked the House Oversight Committee for “making a trailer” about the upcoming hearing.
In addition to cutting Medicaid & cancer research, House Rs have been focused on…making a trailer for next week’s hearing
— Michelle Wu 吳弭 (@wutrain.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 9:03 AM
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