In Latest Act of Resistance, Boston Mayor Warns Parking Garage Owners Against Leasing Spots to ICE

Boston’s mayor, Michelle Wu, is warning private parking garage owners not to let Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents use their facilities for “surge parking” in her latest effort to limit deportation operations in the city. During President Trump’s second term, Ms. Wu has repeatedly rebuffed immigration officials’ demands that the city cooperate with federal immigration enforcement operations. In a letter released on Tuesday, the mayor wrote, “We received the distressing news that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a public notice seeking ‘Surge Parking’ facilities in 14 cities, including in Boston.”“Were ICE to procure such resources, it would constitute an unprovoked and unwarranted escalation, creating potentially significant risks to public safety and halting economic activity across our entire region,” she wrote, decrying ICE enforcement actions as an “attack” on “peaceful American cities.” The letter came a month after ICE posted a request to lease 250 parking spots in downtown Boston. Ms. Wu said that she would use public records requests to discover if any private garage owners had expressed an interest in leasing their property to ICE.During an interview with a Boston TV station, WCVB, Ms. Wu acknowledged that she cannot stop parking garage owners from leasing parking spaces to ICE, but said that she will use the information from public records requests to communicate the city’s opposition to garage owners who express interest in leasing spaces to immigration officers.In a post on X, the Department of Homeland Security called Ms. Wu’s promise to uncover property owners considering leasing space to ICE “unhinged.”“She knows she has NO authority to block us from using private property,” DHS said on X. “So she’s hunting down private property owners and threatening them for working with ICE — because she’d rather intimidate law-abiding Bostonians than get criminal illegal aliens OFF the street.”Ms. Wu cast her letter as an attempt to partner with lot owners to prevent ICE from conducting operations. She referenced Operation Metro Surge at Minneapolis earlier this year, during which two American citizens, Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot.“Today, I ask you to join us: Reject any proposition by ICE to facilitate an attack on the people of Boston. In the face of escalating attacks on cities across the country, we have repeatedly seen that the strongest defense is solidarity,” the mayor said. Ms. Wu has repeatedly sparred with the Trump administration over its immigration policies. In February, she signed an executive order that prohibits immigration agents from using public city buildings, parking lots, or parks for staging. The order also directed local law enforcement officials to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by federal agents. Meanwhile, the Boston Police Department refused to honor any of the 57 detainer requests ICE sent in 2025. Last August, the then-acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, said his agency would “flood” Boston with immigration agents after Ms. Wu refused to take steps to cooperate with immigration officers.

In Latest Act of Resistance, Boston Mayor Warns Parking Garage Owners Against Leasing Spots to ICE

In Latest Act of Resistance, Boston Mayor Warns Parking Garage Owners Against Leasing Spots to ICE

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