'Home For Everyone': Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Fires Back At Border Czar After ICE Raids

BOSTON — Mayor Michelle Wu declared that Boston is a "home for everyone" in the latest salvo in the war of words between city and state leaders and Trump Administration officials over Boston and surrounding municipalities' status as so-called Sanctuary Cities for undocumented residents.

Wu once again proclaimed Boston as the "safety city in the country" during an appearance on The Daily Show Tuesday night, days after the Department of U.S. Immigration and Enforcement conducted raids in Boston and across Massachusetts that it said resulted in the arrests of 370 people in the country illegally.

"It's about a false narrative that immigrants are somehow more likely to commit crimes or cause harm," Wu said Tuesday night. "This is just simply not true. We know that in our city, where our immigrant communities are entrepreneurs, are holding up the best hospitals in the country, the universities, and jobs that we all rely on. In order to make sure that we can keep that progress going, everyone has to feel part of it."

• Boston ICE Raids: 370 Arrests Amid 'Sanctuary' Clash With MA Officials

While both Mayor Wu and Gov. Maura Healey have said they support the arrest and prosecution of immigrants who commit crimes — the same as they would for anyone who has committed a crime — the threat of roundups of individuals based on the prospect that they might be in the country illegally creates a chilling effect that hurts neighborhoods and law enforcement efforts overall.

"We're the safest city because we are safe for everyone," Wu said. "In a community where more than a quarter of our residents come from, or were born in, another country, if people are afraid to drop their kids off at school, or call 911 when they need help, or share information when they actually have information to report about a crime that happened, that makes everyone less safe whether or not you are an immigrant, whether or not you are in this country for six generations or just arrived.

"We're really focused on being that home for everyone. And it's worked."

ICE said it made 370 arrests of undocumented citizens across Boston and Massachusetts — including 205 that ICE said had "significant criminal convictions or charges" — as federal officers conducted what ICE called an "enhanced operation" in the Bay State from March 18 through March 23.

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ICE said in a statement announcing the arrests that the raids came after "local jurisdictions refused to honor immigration detainer requests to turn over the offenders and instead chose to release aliens from custody."

Trump Border Czar Thomas Homan on Monday blamed Healey and Wu specifically for forcing the federal government to come to Massachusetts and conduct the raids.

"Governor (Healey) and Mayor Wu should be ashamed of supporting sanctuary policies," Homan said in a statement on X on Monday. "Releasing public safety threats back into the public, rather than working with ICE at the jails, puts the public at great risk."

Homan said in an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday that the "majority of them were criminals" when asked about the 370 people detained, but allowed that there may have been some "collateral arrests" in the raids.

"I've said it before on this show and I'll keep saying it — collateral arrests are going to (happen)," he said. "People who aren't criminals that are found when we're looking for the criminal are gonna be taken into custody."

ICE said that among those arrested in the raids were foreign fugitives currently facing charges or convictions for murder, drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering.

While U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley said the raids were intended to target "individuals who not only violate our immigration laws but then commit crimes that endanger our communities," she added, "those who enter and remain in this country unlawfully are breaking the law."

"My office remains committed to working alongside our law enforcement partners to ensure that dangerous individuals are identified, prosecuted, and removed so that the people of Massachusetts can live and work in safe and secure communities," Foley said.