Boston Mayor Wu beefs up illegal immigration protections with $2.2 million participatory budgeting funds

BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu used nearly a third of the city’s $2.2 million participatory budget to beef up protections for illegal immigrants.

A city councilor meanwhile is calling on the mayor to explain whether federal immigration detainer requests ignored by the city included criminal cases.

The winning participatory budgeting investments announced by Wu, as voted on by residents as young as 11 years old regardless of citizenship status, direct significant funds toward immigration-related initiatives.

The city has opted to earmark $400,000 of the funds for an immigrant legal defense fund, and $300,000 to support immigrant career pathways programming that focuses on “bridging language and employment.”

“Participatory budgeting continues to demonstrate what is possible when residents have a direct voice in shaping Boston’s future,” Wu said in a statement. “The projects selected this year reflect our communities’ focus on housing stability, immigration support, workforce opportunity, youth empowerment, small business growth and climate resilience.

“We are grateful to every resident who participated and look forward to implementing these investments across our neighborhoods,” the mayor added.

Other projects beyond the $700,000 in immigration support include $500,000 for neighborhood fresh food access; $200,000 for housing stability assistance; $100,000 for an initiative that aims to plant trees in city-owned spaces; $300,000 for workforce training programs focused on trades; $250,000 for youth financial literacy workshops; and $150,000 for a small business development program.

The focus on immigration protections in the participatory budgeting process aligns with the mayor’s emphasis on pushing back against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and threatened federal funding cuts for sanctuary cities like Boston.

Wu’s allies on the City Council have largely followed suit. Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune this month proposed an immigrant emergency response fund, for example, that would use city and private money to provide legal defense, family stabilization and other support in response to the federal immigration crackdown.

Louijeune’s proposal seems to align, in part, with the $400,000 in participatory budgeting funds that have been set aside for an immigrant legal defense fund.

However, one city councilor is pushing back on the city’s protections for illegal immigrants, according to a filing that he plans to introduce at Wednesday’s Council meeting.

Councilor Ed Flynn has filed a 17F request for the mayor to release information on federal immigration detainer requests that were ignored by the Boston Police Department from Jan. 1, 2024 to the present.

Flynn is seeking “any and all communication from any federal government agency to the Boston Police Department or any city department about detainer requests, any cooperation agreements, and/or memorandum of understanding.”

He’s also asking the mayor to release information on how many detainer requests the city has received from ICE during that time period, the reason for the request and how the Boston Police responded to it.

Flynn is calling for Wu to disclose specific reasons for the ICE detainer requests, including whether they pertained to “open criminal cases.”

“I want to do my due diligence and learn about how Boston Police are working or communicating with federal officials on public safety challenges and these requests as well,” Flynn told the Herald.

“The City Council hasn’t held any public hearings on this issue, and I wanted to be sure that I’m fully knowledgeable about what these requests are, why they were denied, who made the request, and the communication between Boston Police and federal officials,” the councilor said.

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox submitted a report to the City Council last month that stated the department ignored all 57 detainer requests issued by federal authorities last year.

Cox attributed his department’s non-compliance to the Boston Trust Act, which was first enacted in 2014 and enshrines the city’s sanctuary status. It prohibits local cooperation with federal authorities on civil matters, but still allows for cooperation with ICE in criminal matters like human trafficking, child exploitation, drug and weapons trafficking, and cybercrimes, per city officials.

Boston’s tendency to ignore federal civil detainer requests due to the Trust Act led to a squabble between ICE and Boston Police last year that centered around a discrepancy in how many detainer requests the respective sides reported for 2024.

Cox reported last year that the police department refused to act on all 15 civil immigration detainer requests received in 2024. ICE officials quickly countered by saying that they had issued 198 detainer requests, some of which involved noncitizens who had been arrested by BPD for “egregious criminal activity.”

Asked whether the city should be ignoring federal detainer requests, Flynn said, “I do believe we have a responsibility when there is any type of criminal activity, that we can’t ignore it, regardless of who was involved. I believe we have to provide safe and healthy neighborhoods, and I believe we should have zero tolerance for any type of criminal activity in Boston.”

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