Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump has sued Boston because he doesn't like its policy of not cooperating with ICE to detain immigrants. No city is required to actively help ICE as long as it does not break any federal laws, which Boston is not doing. Trump is not going to win this one in district court, but the goal isn't winning, it is intimidating Mayor Michelle Wu. Maybe Trump's attention has shifted from Chicago to Boston (temporarily?) because he is getting major pushback from the very aggressive Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL).
AG Pam Bondi is all in on this. She said: "If Boston won't protect its citizens from illegal alien crime, this Department of Justice will." As it turns out, Boston ranks #71 in violent crime rate per 100,000 population. Why hasn't he gone after #1, Memphis? Maybe because the Republican governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, wouldn't appreciate it.
Wu has not caved. She said: "This is our city, and we will vigorously defend our laws and the constitutional rights of cities, which have been repeatedly upheld in courts across the country. We will not yield." She has defended a city ordinance that limits how much local law enforcement has to co-operate with the feds on low-level crime. It does not bar the city from cooperating with the feds on major crimes committed by noncitizens. But no, if an illegal immigrant is caught jaywalking, Boston will not arrest him or her and call ICE, which is what Trump wants.
Trump has called this policy "obstructionist" and wants to force Boston to abolish it. As usual, Trump doesn't actually care about the tiny number of people who might be turned over. What he wants is to intimidate the mayor and get her to bow down and say: "Yes, your highness, we will do whatever your highness wishes of us." And Wu is refusing. (V)