Justice Department sues Boston over sanctuary city laws

The Justice Department this week filed a lawsuit against Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu over its sanctuary city laws.

The DOJ sued the city on Thursday, arguing that Boston's sanctuary city laws interfere with the federal government's enforcement of immigration law.

“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,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “If Boston won’t protect its citizens from illegal alien crime, this Department of Justice will.”

According to the DOJ, Boston's sanctuary city policies are illegal under federal law, and the city's refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities has resulted in dangerous criminal illegal immigrants being released from police custody.

“The Boston Police Department was once a cooperative partner with ICE’s immigration enforcement efforts. Throughout 2015, the Boston Police Department honored all civil immigration detainer requests from ICE,” the DOJ said in its lawsuit. 

“But every year since then—as the national crisis with illegal immigration reached its peak—the City of Boston directed its law enforcement to become obstructionist by refusing to honor any of ICE’s civil immigration detainers.”

Wu responded to the lawsuit on Thursday, posting on Facebook, "This unconstitutional attack on our city is not a surprise. Boston is a thriving community, the economic and cultural hub of New England, and the safest major city in the country — but this administration is intent on attacking our community to advance their own authoritarian agenda. This is our City, and we will vigorously defend our laws and the constitutional rights of cities, which have been repeatedly upheld in courts across the country. We will not yield."

Last month, Bondi sent letters to more than 30 state and local governments with “sanctuary jurisdictions,” arguing their funding could be frozen if they do not cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.