Updated September 5, 2025 at 1:40 PM EDT
The Trump administration against Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Police Department, saying the city鈥檚 policy to cooperate with immigration enforcement officials only in criminal matters violates federal law.
The , filed Thursday in federal court in Boston, takes aim at the city鈥檚 Trust Act, the 2014 legislation that said Boston Police will not honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to detain individuals unless they face criminal charges.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called out Wu specifically in her press release announcing the lawsuit.
鈥淭he City of Boston and its Mayor have been among the worst sanctuary offenders in America 鈥� they explicitly enforce policies designed to undermine law enforcement and protect illegal aliens from justice,鈥� Bondi said in the statement. 鈥淚f Boston won鈥檛 protect its citizens from illegal alien crime, this Department of Justice will.鈥�
The mayor hit back at the Trump administration in a Thursday night, saying, 鈥淭his unconstitutional attack on our city is not a surprise.鈥�
Wu defended Boston as 鈥渁 thriving community, the economic and cultural hub of New England, and the safest major city in the country,鈥� and said, 鈥渢his administration is intent on attacking our community to advance their own authoritarian agenda.鈥�
Wu said Boston will 鈥渧igorously defend our laws and the constitutional rights of cities, which have been repeatedly upheld in courts across the country. We will not yield.鈥�
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The simmering threat of a DOJ lawsuit became more real last month, when Bondi send to Boston and 31 other cities and states, ordering them to expand cooperation with immigration enforcement as the administration pursues mass deportations or risk losing federal funding.
The DOJ suit alleges that Boston鈥檚 Trust Act puts federal law enforcement agents in danger 鈥渂y mandating restrictions on basic information sharing鈥� and barring the Department of Homeland Security access to people released from Boston police custody. The suit echoes a complaint of ICE officials in Massachusetts and Washington that they must engage in 鈥渄ifficult and dangerous efforts鈥� to arrest immigrants in neighborhoods and courthouses because local officials won鈥檛 turn people over who鈥檝e been released on other charges.
Boston isn鈥檛 the first major city Bondi has sued over immigration policy. Both and have been called to court over their own regulations.
The Trust Act was revised in 2019 and in 2024. Nowhere in the act is the word 鈥渟anctuary鈥� used; the Trump administration has adopted the term as a catch-all phrase for cities that don鈥檛 actively assist ICE in civil immigration arrests.
While the DOJ suit claims Boston鈥檚 policy impedes federal immigration enforcement, Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director and former Boston ICE chief, recently boasted that he routinely gets tips from local police.
鈥淚 have so many friends 鈥� Boston police officers, Massachusetts state troopers 鈥� who are ecstatic about what we鈥檙e doing, who give us intel,鈥� Lyons said on the Howie Carr show last month.
Wu rejected that claim this week, telling WBUR there was Boston cops are sharing information with ICE or any other agency beyond what is permitted in the Trust Act. She also vehemently denied repeated claims by the administration that the city is harboring criminals.
鈥淎ny assertion that we鈥檙e protecting or shielding criminal behavior is absolutely false,鈥� Wu said.
The governor offered no immediate comment on the lawsuit. State Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in a statement said, 鈥淭his baseless lawsuit is yet another desperate attempt to rope local governments into helping the Trump Administration conduct their cruel immigration crackdowns, including targeting those with no criminal record.鈥� She said she would 鈥渃ontinue to support the City of Boston in defending against these attacks on our residents.鈥�
Josh Kraft, who鈥檚 running for mayor against Wu, in a statement called it 鈥測et another attempt by the Trump administration to undermine the laws and values of the City of Boston and what our nation was founded on.鈥�
He noted that courts have so far 鈥渟hut down the use of the National Guard in American cities and Boston must stand in defense of our laws and communities while continuing to work with law enforcement to keep all of our residents safe.鈥�
At a Boston City Council hearing in the South End on Thursday night, Councilor Julia Mejia told WBUR the Trump administration 鈥渟hould be focusing on the economy and they should be focusing on taking care of other business 鈥� and stay out of Boston.鈥�
And U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren condemned the lawsuit and what she described as Trump鈥檚 latest power grab.
鈥淏oston doesn鈥檛 back down to bullies. Boston is one of the safest major cities in America thanks to Mayor Wu鈥檚 leadership and the trust between residents and public safety officials,鈥� she said in a statement.
The city鈥檚 policy has been a routine target of Trump administration ire since the start of the president鈥檚 second term in January, with officials asserting without evidence that the regulation shields criminals from the law. In February, Trump鈥檚 border czar threatened to 鈥� to Boston. And in March, Wu was summoned to Washington to answer question on the city鈥檚 cooperation with immigration enforcement officials before a Republican-controlled House committee. She, alongside other big-city mayors, from the panel.
鈥淥ur local community knows best,鈥� she said of the Trust Act during the hearing. 鈥淎nd we can tell you in Boston, over our history, it has not been the word of presidents, or kings, or presidents who think they are kings that set what happens. It is our residents.鈥�
WBUR鈥檚 Eve Zuckoff contributed to this report.
Correction: This story was updated to reflect that the lawsuit was filed Thursday.
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