White House says Mayor Wu calling ICE ‘secret police' is ‘disgusting' and ‘dangerous'
'President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people to deport illegal aliens. It's disturbing that Democrats like Mayor Wu would side with illegal immigrants over Americans and stoke hatred against American law enforcement," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a press release.
Wu's office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
The White House condemned Wu's doubling down on negative comments about ICE that she first made last weekend at the WBUR Festival.
'Every aspect of what's happening at the federal level is causing harm in our local communities,' the mayor said during an interview at the festival. 'People are terrified for their lives and for their neighbors, folks getting snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks, who can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then detained.'
Read more: Mayor Wu defends calling ICE 'secret police' after Mass. US attorney's criticism
The White House took particular issue with a reference Wu made while defending her comments to reporters on Wednesday. When talking about ICE agents' choice to wear masks while making arrests, she brought up the fact that New England-based neo-Nazi group NSC-131 also wears masks in public.
'I don't know of any police department that routinely wears masks,' she said, according to The Boston Globe. 'We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC-131, routinely wears masks.'
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons — who was the head of ICE's Boston field office until his promotion earlier this year — said Monday that federal immigration agents wear masks because people have been taking pictures of them and posting them online along with death threats.
The White House described Wu's comments as 'fanning the flames of hate while ICE agents face unprecedented threats to themselves and their families,' citing a claim ICE made in May that its officers are 'facing a 413% increase in assaults.'
The White House also criticized Wu for 'denigrating' ICE officers in the wake of 'Operation Patriot,' a monthlong enforcement operation the agency carried out across Massachusetts during the month of May. Agents arrested nearly 1,500 people during that time, ICE announced Monday.
The White House called attention to 10 suspects ICE arrested as part of the operation, all of whom are Central and South American men who were previously convicted of or charged with serious crimes in Massachusetts or their home countries, according to ICE. The crimes listed include murder, rape, child rape and kidnapping, among others, and two of the men had Interpol Red Notices out against them when ICE arrested them.
Read more: ICE detained nearly 1,500 people in Mass. in one month
Notably, though, some arrests made during Operation Patriot resulted in outrage and fear in Massachusetts communities. Though Acting ICE Director Lyons said the operation was focused on 'transnational organized crime, gangs and egregious illegal alien offenders,' agents also detained foreign nationals whose only crime was being in the country illegally.
On May 12, the agency's arrest of a Brazilian mother on the streets of Worcester led to a heated confrontation between protesters and law enforcement and charges against three women — including a city councilor.
Additionally, the Milford community was rocked by ICE officers' decision to arrest and detain an 18-year-old high school student last weekend. He was released on bail on Thursday.
The White House is far from the first federal entity or official to condemn Wu's comments.
In a social media video posted Wednesday morning, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley decried the mayor's statements as a 'false narrative,' pushing back against the idea that people are being 'snatched off the street.'
'There are no secret police. ICE agents, along with other federal law enforcement partners, are making immigration arrests. That is no secret. They are arresting individuals who are here illegally, which is a violation of federal law,' the U.S. Attorney said. 'Every enforcement action is conducted within the bounds of the Constitution and our laws with oversight, legal justification and accountability. To claim otherwise is a gross misrepresentation and a disservice to the public.'
Read more: 'False narratives': Mass. US attorney blasts Boston Mayor Wu over remarks on ICE
The mayor defended her characterization of ICE Wednesday afternoon when asked about Foley's criticism at an unrelated event at Boston City Hall. ICE hasn't been 'sharing exactly who was arrested and why,' she said.
'The U.S. attorney is attacking me for saying what Bostonians see with their own eyes,' she said.
But on Thursday morning, Lyons posted his own video criticizing the mayor's and other politicians' anti-ICE comments, demanding that they 'stop putting [his] people in danger' with 'made-up talking points that get activists riled up.'
'These are real people with real families you're hurting with your ridiculous rhetoric and inflammatory comments,' Lyons said.
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