Boston Mayor Michelle Wu spent six hours yesterday testifying before the House Oversight Committee on the city’s Trust Act, which limits the city’s involvement in the enforcement of federal civil laws and helps to promote cooperation between police and the city’s diverse communities. Much of Wu’s testimony was devoted to pushing back on false and misleading claims from committee members, including one who intentionally misquoted the Boston Mayor. While members of Congress attacked the city’s spending on immigrants, Wu pointed out that the city has an Triple A bond rating. When members falsely claimed that the Trust Act protected criminals, Wu pointed out that Boston has one of the lowest crime rates of any city in the nation, and a lower crime rate than the districts that the committee members come from. Indeed, the murder rate in Boston last year was less than half the murder rate in 2020 and the lowest we’ve seen in the city since 1957.
Mayor Wu was not alone in defending policies that protect all residents; she was joined by the mayors of New York City, Chicago, and Denver at Wednesday’s hearing. Denver’s Mayor, Mike Johnston, pointed out that his city has been receiving busloads of immigrants in the two years he’s been in office, and that this has coincided with significant drops in crime rates in his city. Similarly, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said that “The cooperation of all people, regardless of their immigration status, is essential to achieving the city’s goals of reducing crime and pursuing justice for victims,” and also pointed out that crime rates are trending down.
Wu and the other mayors did more than defend their cities and their policies, but also admonished Congress for doing nothing to help cities or enhance safety. Wu called on Congress to pass compassionate immigration reform and noted that the administration’s mass deportation policies, “would be devastating for our economy.” Many members of Congress responded by making baseless threats of criminal referrals against the Mayors instead of acknowledging their own failures to address immigration with anything other than lies and hate.
Not all of yesterday’s action happened in the halls of Congress though. Hundreds of the city’s residents gathered outside Boston City Hall, along with prominent members of the City Council, to show their support for Mayor Wu as she held off the bullies in Congress. Even Josh Kraft, who has jumped into the Mayor’s race to oppose Wu, joined the rally in support of the city’s Trust Act and called the Congressional hearing a “circus”, “performative”, and without any substance.
MIRA stands proudly in support of Mayor Wu and offer our deepest appreciation for Wednesday’s testimony in support of sensible policies that treat all of Boston’s residents with the respect they deserve.
“Shame on [Tom Homan], for lying about my city, for having the nerve to insult our police commissioner, who has overseen the safest Boston’s been in anyone’s lifetime…I am here to make sure that the city of Boston is safe. Others may want to bring hell. We are here to bring peace to cities everywhere.”
- Mayor Wu
“The false narrative is that immigrants in general are criminals, or immigrants in general cause all sorts of danger and harm that is actually what is undermining safety in our communities. If you want to make us safe, pass gun reforms, stop cutting Medicaid, stop cutting cancer research, stop cutting funds for veterans. That is what will make our city safe.”
- Mayor Wu
“Boston is my hometown, and I’m glad to welcome our mayor, Mayor Wu, and her one-month-old baby here today. But I don’t know that Boston welcomes Mr. Homan or anyone else bringing hell to the city.”
- Rep. Gerard Connolly (VA)
“What’s happening in DC is a Republican circus, it has nothing to do with substance, nothing to do with anything that’s important to any of us, it’s just performative.”
- Josh Kraft