ICE Director Threatens To 'Flood' Boston With Agents: Reports

BOSTON, MA — Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons threatened to "flood" Boston with agents in response to Mayor Michelle Wu refusing to conform to the Trump Administration's immigration policies, multiple media outlets have reported.

Lyons announced his plan on the Howie Carr show Wednesday, saying, "We did Operation Patriot March, which yielded over 1,000 arrests, and now you’re going to see more ICE agents come to Boston to make sure that we take these public threats out that she wants to let go back in the communities. We're going to keep making America safe,” NBC 10 reported.

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Lyons announced his plan to innundate Boston with ICE agents in response to Mayor Michelle Wu refusal to "comply with the Trump administration’s order to dismantle the city’s sanctuary laws," according to the New York Post.

"Boston and Massachusetts decided to say that they wanted to stay sanctuary," Lyons said in the Post story. "Sanctuary does not mean safer streets. It means more criminal aliens out and about the neighborhood. But 100%, you will see a larger ICE presence.”

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"I write in response to your letter of August 13, 2025, threatening to prosecute local officials and illegally withhold federal grants and contracts unless the City of Boston agrees to actively participate in mass deportations," Wu wrote Tuesday in a letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

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"On behalf of the people of Boston, and in solidarity with the cities and communities targeted by this federal administration for our refusal to bow down to unconstitutional threats and unlawful coercion, we affirm our support for each other and for our democracy," Wu said in the letter. "Boston will never back down from being a beacon of freedom, and a home for everyone."

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Lyons claimed the city of Boston "has been ignoring ICE detainers or releasing 'criminal aliens' convicted of crimes in the United States and abroad back into society, while again referencing the nearly 1,500 illegal immigrant arrests made during Operation Patriot," the Boston Herald reported.

"So not only do we have to go ahead and go after the ones we were targeting, but we have to also deal with jurisdictions releasing criminal aliens in real time while we’re out there working the streets,” Lyons said in the Herald story. “It’s not making anyone safer.”

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