The acting director of Boston’s ICE field office said in a FOX News interview on Wednesday that her agents will not be deterred by city policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
“We’re not going to stop, we’re not going to back down, we’re going to be there every time,” Patricia H. Hyde told Fox anchor Dana Perino.
Hyde slammed Mayor Michelle Wu’s so-called sanctuary city policies, contending that Boston releases “criminals” onto its streets instead of handing them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“Unlike Mayor Wu, I was born and raised in Massachusetts, I grew up in Boston, and I know what a safe Boston looks like, and this isn’t it,” Hyde said.
The interview came one day after Wu passionately defended Boston’s immigrant-friendly public safety policies, and vowed the city will not yield to pressure from the Trump administration to reverse course.
“Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures,” Wu said, eliciting cheers from a crowd of supporters gathered on City Hall Plaza. “Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law, and Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.”
Tuesday was Wu’s deadline to respond to a demand from US Attorney General Pam Bondi that Boston end an ordinance known as the Trust Act. Supporters of Wu’s policy have argued it allows immigrants in the country illegally to interact with police departments without fear of deportation.
The mayor told reporters Tuesday her office would not comply with Bondi’s request.
The city ordinance, which complies with a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling, prohibits police from engaging in deportation efforts, which are a federal and civil matter. Police regularly work with ICE and other federal agents on criminal cases, city officials have said.
“While you deploy military personnel to occupy American streets, we are building community safety,” Wu said. “Our police don’t have to hide their faces. Boston police do not hide their faces because they are members of our community.”
Also this week, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a radio interview that his agency will “flood” Boston in response to Wu’s defiance of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy.
“You’re going to see more ICE agents come to Boston to make sure that we take these public threats out that she wants to let go back in the communities,” Lyons said on the “Howie Carr Show.”
Lyons, the former director of the Boston field office, said ICE will take aggressive action in Boston and other cities that limit their cooperation with immigration enforcement.
“We’re definitely going to … flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions,” Lyons said. “Boston and Massachusetts decided to say that they wanted to stay sanctuary. Sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood. But 100 percent, you will see a larger ICE presence.”
Speaking to the press on Thursday morning, Wu responded to Lyons’s comments, saying the entire city benefits when everyone feels free to request police assistance, and provide investigators with information regarding crimes.
“In Boston, we follow and comply with all of the laws — city, state, and federal,” Wu said. “Every day, we are out in our community, working to ensure everyone can reach out to emergency services when they need help.”
Claire Thornton can be reached at claire.thornton@globe.com. Follow Claire on X @claire_thornto.