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Boston Mayor warns private property owners not to lease parking to ICE

August 19, 2026 | | Print Article

Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu unveiled a new component of her war against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has put private property owners on notice about leasing parking spaces to federal officers.

The sanctuary city mayor has openly defied the Trump administration when it comes to enforcing federal immigration law, and the threat to property owners about cooperating with the agency is just the latest example.

According to the Boston Herald, the mayor “contacted garage and lot owners to ask them to reject ICE requests to use their property for ‘surge parking,’ saying it would constitute an ‘unwarranted escalation’ in federal immigration enforcement in Boston.”

“On July 21, 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,” Wu wrote in a Tuesday letter to private parking property owners,” the outlet reported.

“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,” the mayor said in what her office is framing as “a warning against local cooperation with ICE.”

The chilling authoritarian move comes after a notice that ICE seeks to lease parking in multiple national locations was posted on a government procurement website.

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“Today, I ask you to join us: Reject any proposition by ICE to facilitate an attack on the people of Boston,” Wu “asked” in the letter.

Wu told a local news outlet that Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests are being filed to find out who could be interested in leasing spots to ICE, a brazen attempt to intimidate property owners.

“We as a city will be filing another FOIA request for any responses that have come in from the Boston area so we know what information that they may be sifting through,” she said on Sunday’s edition of “On The Record” on WCVB.

“We strongly oppose any expansion of their efforts here,” she added. “And would encourage and will be reaching out to property owners to try to make sure that they’re not adding to a surge of unlawful and dangerous activity.”

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“Earlier today, the City submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for any local responses to ICE. We will keep you updated as we push for a response. Thank you again for your partnership,” the mayor’s letter read.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to Wu’s intimidation tactics.

“These actions by sanctuary Mayor Michelle Wu are unhinged,” the agency wrote in a Tuesday post to X. “She knows she has NO authority to block us from using private property. 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.”

Chris Donaldson
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