Mayor Wu and four other big-city mayors today fought back against Republicans who claim they have turned their cities into blood-drenched hellscapes by refusing to simply turn over everybody with a foreign accent to ICE.
In a contentious hearing, during which Republican members of congress used such rhetorical tricks as spinning out convoluted stories to which they then demanded yes/no answers, Wu snorted at the idea of Republican ICE man Tom Homan bringing "hell" to Boston.
Shame on him for lying about my city, for having nerve the insult our police commissioner who has overseen the safest Boston's been in anyone's lifetime. Bring him here under oath and let's ask him some questions. I am here to make sure that the city of Boston is safe. Others may want to bring hell, we are here to bring peace to cities everywhere.
Wu, and the other mayors, even newfound Trump BFF Eric Adams of New York, said their policies of refusing to hand over immigrants who have not been accused of any crimes, actually make their cities safer , by ensuring people can trust they will be listened to if they talk to police or even need medical care, and that immigrants have been the lifeblood of this country since the beginning.
Wu said that over the past month, though, many people in Boston have stopped going to church or the doctor and are reluctant to report crimes to police, for fear of being turned over to ICE, even if they have done nothing wrong. She added that immigrants who do commit crimes will be arrested and face deportation - as always.
Immigrants have not made Boston a hellhole, she said, noting it's now the safest big city in the country:
Because our gun laws are the strongest in the nation, our officers have built relationships over decades and because residents can trust that when they call 911 in the event of an emergency or to report a crime, help will come. This federal administration's approach is undermining that trust.
This federal administration is making hard working, tax paying god-fearing residents afraid to live their lives. A city that's scared is not a city that's safe. a land ruled by fear is not the land of the free.
We are the cradle of liberty and the city of champions. We are all of these things not in spite of our immigrants but because of them.
She said one out of seven signers of the Declaration of Independence were born outside the colonies, that of the last four World-Series winning Sox teams, one in five players were immigrants. Of all the Nobel Prize winners at BU, all but one were born outside the US., she said, adding one of four Bostonians is an immigrant.
In response to questioning by Arizona Republican Paul Gosar, who seemed to think the mayors of cities nowhere near Arizona would be familiar with some nullification proposal in the Arizona state senate, and who said that by rejecting it, the mayors all support putting immigrants up in luxury hotels as they pillage America, Wu rejected his "false narrative" and said:
The false narrative is that immigrants in general are criminals or immigrants in general cause all sorts of danger and harm. That is actually what is undermining safety in our communities. If you wanted to make us safe, pass gun reform, stop cutting Medicaid, stop cutting cancer research, stop cutting funds for veterans, that is what will make our cities safe.
Wu: If you wanted to make us safe, pass gun reforms. Stop cutting medicaid. Stop cutting cancer research. Stop cutting funds for veterans. That is what will make our city safe.
US Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston, used his first question to say immigration done right could be a great boon to the country, as it has in the past, then posited that bipartisanship is still a thing and asked the mayors for advice on how to deal with the "tension" between Congress's power to regulate immigration and the mayor's "nobly taken" goals of ensuring their cities' safety.
Wu agreed true immigration reform would be a good thing.
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