Boston readies for Ice’s offensive amid Trump’s onslaught on sanctuary cities | Boston

Tensions between Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, and the Trump administration, have increased in recent months during aggressive administration policies, reports now pointing out the possibility of a federal thrust of the law in immigration to the city.

The friction reached its chief last week when the Trump administration started preparing an “immigration application blitz” for Boston in the coming weeks, according to Politico.

The report, which has cited current administration officials and former anonymous, has caused a rapid WU reprimand, who has become in recent months a vocal defender of sanctuary laws and immigrant protections.

“Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law – City, State and Federal,” Wu said in a statement. “We are the most sure city in the country because all the members of our community know that they are part of the way we protect the whole community. Stop attacking cities to hide the failures of your administration. ”

This impasse has been under construction since March, when Wu testified before the Congress alongside three other Democratic mayors to defend the immigration policies of their cities – in particular the laws on the sanctuary city which limit the cooperation of the state forces and local with federal immigration and the application of customs (ICE).

Supporters of laws, including local leaders and police chiefs in the courts who have them, maintain that these measures can help strengthen confidence between immigrant communities and the application of laws. Certain studies have shown that crime rates tend to be lower in sanctuary counties compared to those who do not have such protections.

Critics of these policies say that the laws on the sanctuary undermine the federal capacity of the application of laws to arrest and expel people with a criminal record.

The so-called “sanctuary cities” have become a central target of this Trump administration, as it puts pressure on mass deportations within the framework of its repression against immigration. In June, Pam Bondi, the United States Attorney General, sent letters to 32 American mayors, including WU, demanding that they put an end to their sanctuary policies or their reductions in federal funding and possible legal consequences.

Wu then issued a faithful defense of Boston’s policies in a letter to Bondi and at a subsequent press conference.

“The city of Boston is the main most surety city in America,” she wrote. “Our progress is the result of community police decades and partnerships between local law enforcement and community leaders, who share a commitment to Boston a safe and welcoming home for everyone.”

Progress, Wu said, results in part from the city’s local laws, including the Boston Trust Act, which prohibits the local police from engaging with the federal immigration application unless there is a criminal mandate and is “fully compliant with federal law”.

“On behalf of the people of Boston, and in solidarity with cities and communities targeted by this federal administration for our refusal to bow to unconstitutional threats and illegal coercion, we affirm our support for each other and for our democracy,” she wrote.

After Wu’s remarks, the acting director of the ice, Todd Lyons, said that the agency intended to “flood the area, in particular in the courts of the sanctuary”.

“Now you will see more ice agents coming to Boston to make sure that we are removing these public threats that she wants to let return to the communities,” he said, promising to make “safe America”.

Patricia Hyde, director of the Boston’s acting ice office, echoed the feeling of Lyons, warning that ice is not “remote” and that “men and women with ice, unlike the mayor Wu”, have taken oath that they have sworn to defend “protect the cities and the communities where we work and where we live, and what we are going to do, despite the obstacles”.

Wu retaliated on social networks and said that she had taken an oath to maintain the American Constitution, noting that she had taken an oath with her hand on a Bible of Aitken in 1782 “also known as the Bible of the Revolution”.

While the threat of federal actions is looming, Wu said last week that his administration was actively preparing for the possibility of a federal deployment of the National Guard. Such a decision would reflect recent actions of the Trump administration in Washington DC and Los Angeles.

The administration sent the national guard troops to Washington DC last month under the pretext of fighting against an alleged increase in violent crimes – an assertion that contrasts with current City Crime data. Earlier this summer, the administration also sent thousands of troops from the National Guard to Los Angeles during demonstrations against the repression of the immigration of the administration, a move from a recently deemed illegal federal judge.

“We follow very closely what is happening in other cities in the country,” Wu on GBH Boston public radio last week. “Unfortunately, we have seen what it would look like if it should happen and this federal administration is willing to go beyond the limits of the constitutional authority and the federal law.”

Wu also said that his administration examined the previous previous ones and the work “very closely” with community members “to make sure that people know what’s going on and that it is not something that is necessary or wanted or legally healthy”.

She added that “at the moment, but we have arrived here, each mayor of each big city must take preparations for the National Guard against their will”.

Wu’s comments come while leaders of other cities led by Democrats across the country are also preparing for the possibility of deployments of the National Guard or ice overvoltages in their communities.

The Trump administration has announced this week planning to develop immigration repression and deploy federal agents in Chicago, arousing strong reactions of reaction of local leaders.

On Thursday, JB Pritzker, the Governor of Illinois, said that he had been informed that enlarged ice operations would begin in Chicago and around Chicago this weekend, according to ABC News Chicago.

Pritzker said earlier this week that he was “deeply concerned” that ice targets mexican independence day celebrations on Saturday. Until now, an independence day parade in North Chicago has been postponed.