The Department of Homeland Security is calling out Boston Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu’s "unhinged" effort to dissuade business owners from leasing to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (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 Donald Trump’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 sanctuary Mayor Michelle Wu are unhinged."
"She knows she has NO authority to block us from using private property. So, she’s hunting down private property owners and threatening them for working with ICE — because she’d rather intimidate law-abiding Bostonians than get criminal illegal aliens OFF the street," wrote DHS.
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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 Boston.
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."
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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 Wu’s FOIA request by calling her a "pro-criminal illegal alien 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 federal law enforcement onto their own property, they should be allowed to do so—free 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 Wu’s office and the city of Boston for comment.
Wu’s 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.
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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, ICE’s 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.
