The Department of Homeland Security is calling out Boston Democratic Mayor Michelle Wus “unhinged” effort to dissuade business owners from leasing to (ICE) in the city, equating it to “hunting down” private property owners.
After Boston banned ICE vehicles from using city-owned parking lots to stage operations, ICE issued a notice seeking to rent hundreds of parking spaces in the city for five years. In response, Wu, an outspoken opponent of President s immigration enforcement agenda, issued an open letter to parking garage and lot owners throughout Boston in which she revealed the city had submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request “for any local responses to ICE.”
DHS fired back in an X post, writing that “these actions by are unhinged.”
“She knows she has NO authority to block us from using private property. So, shes hunting down private property owners and threatening them for working with ICE â because shed rather intimidate law-abiding Bostonians than get criminal illegal aliens OFF the street,” wrote DHS.
ICE issued a “sources sought” notice last month for “surge parking” in 14 cities across the country. The notice revealed ICE was seeking 249 contiguous parking spaces in .
In response, Wu issued an official appeal from the city of Boston for garage and lot owners to “reject ICE staging facilities.” She wrote that “were ICE to procure such resources, it would constitute an unprovoked and unwarranted escalation, creating potentially significant risks to public safety and halting economic activity across our entire region.”
She boasted that she “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,” adding, “Today, I ask you to join us: Reject any proposition by ICE to facilitate an attack on the people of Boston.”
Wu also noted that the same day, the city submitted a FOIA request for any local responses to ICE. She told the garage and lot owners, “We will keep you updated as we push for a response,” adding, “Thank you again for your partnership.”
In its FOIA request, which was submitted to ICE and reviewed by Fox News Digital, the city of Boston states that it is seeking “all submissions and/or responses to ICE Sources Sought Notice with Notice ID DHS-ICE-SurgeParking.”
DHS responded to Wus FOIA request by calling her a “pro-criminal politician” in another X post. The agency said the request also indicates that Wu “admits she has no authority to block ICE from utilizing private property.”
“If private citizens want to allow onto their own property, they should be allowed to do soâfree of threats, intimidation and coercion from their radical left-wing mayor who shamelessly compared ICE agents to a neo-Nazi group,” wrote DHS.
Fox News Digital reached out to Wus office and the city of Boston for comment.
Wus FOIA request came after the Boston City Council adopted an “emergency resolution” earlier this month urging the city to “explore all avenues to oppose” proposed parking leases for ICE in downtown Boston.
The council said that by adopting the emergency resolution, it was calling on the city to “explore available options to prevent the proposed parking leases and expressed its opposition to an increased ICE presence in the city.”
Besides Boston, ICEs notice showed the agency seeking significant numbers of parking spaces in the metropolitan areas of Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and several other cities.
