Trump administration sues Boston over ‘sanctuary’ policy

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday against Boston’s Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu over the city’s so-called sanctuary policy, which limits cooperation with federal immigration efforts.

The lawsuit, which also targets the city’s police department and its commissioner, alleges that Boston’s policy is illegal because “cities cannot obstruct the Federal Government from enforcing immigration laws.”

The Boston Trust Act, signed into law in 2014 and amended in 2019, prohibits law enforcement officials from making arrests solely based on warrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, keeping individuals in custody at the request of ICE — known as a detainer request — and sharing information about a person’s release time with the agency.

“These provisions reflect that City’s intentional effort to obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe,” the Justice Department argued in the lawsuit.

In a statement to CNN, Wu said the lawsuit, which she called an “unconstitutional attack,” did not come as 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,” she added. “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.”

“Sanctuary city” is a broad term referring to jurisdictions with policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement actions, but the term is nebulously defined.

In recent weeks, the mayor has remained defiant as the Trump administration has threatened to punish such jurisdictions as the president strives to increase deportations.

“Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures,” Wu said last month after Attorney General Pam Bondi threatened to prosecute local officials whose cities did not comply with the White House’s immigration crackdown. “Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law.”

Bondi has also threatened to withhold funding from cities who limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities, but a federal judge ruled late last month that the Trump administration cannot deny funds to Boston and other jurisdictions.

The Justice Department has similarly sued Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago over their policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Earlier this summer, a federal judge in Illinois dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Chicago, which also targeted state officials in Illinois and local officials in Cook County. The judge ruled that the administration lacked “standing to sue.”

This story has been updated with comment from Wu.

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