The Trump administration has sued Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu, saying the city’s policy not to cooperate with immigration enforcement officials on non-criminal matters violates federal law.
The suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, takes aim at Bostons Trust Act, the 2014 legislation that said Boston Police will not honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to detain individuals who do not have criminal charges.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi called out Wu specifically in her press release announcing the lawsuit.
“The City of Boston and its Mayor have been among the worst sanctuary offenders in America – they explicitly enforce policies designed to undermine law enforcement and protect illegal aliens from justice,” Bondi said in the statement. “If Boston won’t protect its citizens from illegal alien crime, this Department of Justice will.”
That Trust Act, the suit alleges, puts federal law enforcement agents in danger.
“By mandating restrictions on basic information sharing and barring DHS access to aliens in the City of Boston’s custody upon their release as provided by federal law (e.g., an administrative warrant), the Boston Trust Act requires federal immigration officers either (1) to engage in difficult and dangerous efforts to re-arrest aliens who were previously in local custody, endangering immigration officers, the particular alien, and others who may be nearby, or (2) to determine that it is not appropriate to transfer an alien to local custody in the first place, in order to comply with their mission to enforce the immigration laws,” the lawsuit reads.
The Trust Act has been settled law in Boston since it was first passed in 2014, though it was revised in 2019 and reaffirmed in 2024.
While the suit claims the act impedes federal immigration enforcement, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons recently boasted that he routinely gets tips from local police.
“I have so many friends — Boston police officers, Massachusetts state troopers — who are ecstatic about what we’re doing, who give us intel,” Lyons said on the Howie Carr show last month.
Wu rejected that claim on Wednesday, telling WBUR there was no evidence any Boston cop was sharing information with ICE or any other agency.
She also vehemently denied repeated claims by the administration that the city is harboring criminals.
“Any assertion that we’re protecting or shielding criminal behavior is absolutely false,” Wu said.
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