Boston's police accountability office tracking 'questionable' ICE tactics: Mayor Michelle Wu

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on Sep 10, 2025

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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says the city’s Office of Police Accountability and Transparency is collecting reports on when ICE uses tactics that she says may be “across the line in terms of what is appropriate” and “legal.”

Created in 2020, the civilian body that “investigates complaints of misconduct within the Boston Police Department” is now fielding reports on the whereabouts of federal immigration authorities.

Wu shared the revelation as she responded to sharp criticism from Trump border czar Tom Homan amid ICE’s latest enforcement surge under “Operation Patriot 2.0” across Greater Boston.

“It is important to see and document and know what is happening,” the mayor told reporters on Wednesday, “and highlight if there is any evidence of tactics being used that are unconstitutional or crossing the line. At the same time, it is also important not to fuel misinformation.”

Wu is also standing firm that the city won’t buckle to the pressure from the Trump administration and will continue to follow the Boston Trust Act, which prohibits the BPD and other city agencies from assisting ICE with apprehending illegal immigrants or complying with civil immigration detainers.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the City of Boston, the Boston Police Department, Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox last Thursday, targeting the Trust Act.

The mayor has previously said the city is “prepared to take legal action at any evidence” that ICE has violated constitutional, state or local laws.

On Tuesday, Homan slammed Wu and Bay State Gov. Maura Healey for spreading what he described as falsehoods. Specifically, the border czar was responding to a “bold-faced lie” from the governor that ICE parked outside a Spanish mass at Boston College this past weekend.

“Shame on Gov. Healey and Mayor Wu,” the border czar told reporters outside the White House. “Shame on both of them. They should be calling the White House, thanking Trump, thanking ICE for making the community safer. Instead, they go on TV and lie about ICE and make these accusations.”

Under Operation Patriot 2.0, hundreds of federal agents from across the country are in Massachusetts, cracking down on what the Trump administration describes as the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.”

The Department of Homeland Security shared limited details on seven of the illegal immigrants taken into ICE’s custody since the operation began officially last Saturday.

Some of them have been charged with indecent assault and battery on a victim 14 years or older, aggravated assault on a pregnant victim, strangulation/suffocation, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, among others.

“Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but protect them at the peril of law-abiding American citizens,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, nowhere is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens.”

Wu reiterated on Wednesday that the city honors “criminal warrants.”

“We would not be the safest major city in the country with record low levels of crime and violence if there was any question about whether you could somehow get away with crimes or behavior that is illegal,” she said.

The mayor suggested that if “ICE believes someone is dangerous enough (and has) a record that is serious enough … all they have to do is go get a warrant from a judge.”

“But they don’t choose to do that,” she said, “either because they don’t have the proof or probable cause that somebody needs to be held, or they want to a point that is frankly about intimidating and undermining safety in our communities.”

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