DHS Condemns Boston Mayor’s Campaign Against ICE Parking Leases as “Unhinged”

The Department of Homeland Security has sharply criticized Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s campaign to discourage property owners from leasing parking facilities to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, describing her efforts as “unhinged” and accusing her of “hunting down” business owners. The escalating dispute emerged after ICE sought hundreds of parking spaces across Boston for a five-year period, following the city’s earlier ban on ICE vehicles using municipal parking lots for staging operations.

Wu, a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, distributed an open letter to parking garage and lot operators throughout Boston revealing that the city had filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking “any local responses to ICE.” She urged property owners to “reject ICE staging facilities,” warning that such arrangements would pose “potentially significant risks to public safety and halting economic activity across our entire region.”

DHS responded through social media posts characterizing Wu as a “pro-criminal illegal alien politician” and stating she lacks legal authority to block ICE’s use of private property. The agency argued that private citizens should be “free of threats, intimidation and coercion” in deciding whether to work with federal law enforcement, and accused Wu of intimidating property owners rather than addressing crime.

ICE’s nationwide search for parking includes 249 contiguous spaces in Boston and similar requests in 14 cities including Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas, Phoenix and Pittsburgh. The Boston City Council had adopted an emergency resolution earlier this month urging the city to explore all available options to prevent the proposed parking leases.