BOSTON—When the city's police commissioner stood up in January and said Boston had ignored just 57 federal immigration detainer requests last year, it sounded bad enough.
But that wasn't the whole story.
The real number, according to federal records? 167.
That's right—Boston's Democrat leadership lowballed the count by 110 criminals. And the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn't mincing words about it.
"So politically motivated that they would rather release criminals than work with ICE," Todd Lyons said of the city's sanctuary policies.
The discrepancy came to light after Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox reported that his department had declined 57 ICE detainer requests in 2025—immigrants that federal authorities wanted held for potential deportation after arrest. A routine enough admission for a sanctuary city.
Except ICE kept its own count. And their number was nearly triple.
Boston, a sanctuary city, ignored 167 immigration detainer requests in 2025.— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 4, 2026
That's 167 times the Democrat-run city chose to put undocumented immigrants over the law.
Enough is enough.https://t.co/BtQviQCFGc
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan called it out: "That's 167 times the Democrat-run city chose to put undocumented immigrants over the law. Enough is enough."
The response from Massachusetts residents was immediate—and furious.
— Yaka44 (@SharonYakavonis) March 4, 2026Send help! We are not ok here in MA! We have been invaded by undocumented immigrants. Healey & Wu are making us pay for their every need to live & us actual citizens are drowning in taxes and hidden fees in everything! We can't afford to stay & we can't afford to leave!! HELP US!! SO CORRUPT!!
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Perhaps we need to charge the @MassGovernor, @maura_healey and Mayor Wu with obstruction of justice. Start arresting these treasonous, American last scumbags. And for the love of whatever or whoever you pray to, STOP voting for these people!— Nicholas 🇺🇲 (@StrngrDngr) March 4, 2026
— Lobsterclaw (@Lobsterclaw4) March 4, 2026Mr. Jordan. Massachusetts has many, many serious issues right now. The State is hemorrhaging hard working families who can't take all the bull**** anymore. Elderly people who can't pack up and leave for many different reasons are struggling to pay bills. It's a real ****show.
So who were these 167 people Boston released back onto the streets?
Take Marlon Joel Rodriguez, 36. The Angolan national was facing charges of assault and battery on a family member, strangulation, and operating under the influence—plus prior assault and battery arrests, according to Breitbart.
ICE asked Boston to hold him. Boston said no.
He walked.
This isn't the first time the numbers haven't matched up. The same thing happened in 2024—Cox said 15, ICE said the real count was higher. Now it's happening again, and this time the gap is 110 people.
The city operates under the Boston Trust Act, a 2014 law that bars local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement on civil matters. Wu has made her stance clear—as Mass Daily News previously reported, she literally stood with Somali flags waving around her, sending what she called a "defiant message to Trump" on immigration policy.
Wu's immigration positions have struck a nerve with readers—a Mass Daily News report on her comments praising the Somalian community reached nearly 5 million people and generated over 8,000 comments on social media, highlighting the intense interest in how local leaders handle immigration issues.
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Mayor Wu sent a strong message to Trump and praised the Somalian community saying "you cannot talk about any achievement the City of Boston has had" without mentioning Somalians https://t.co/IAPz5cU3zk— Mass Daily News (@MassDailyNews) December 23, 2025
The Boston Trust Act does allow cooperation on serious crimes—human trafficking, child exploitation, drug and weapons trafficking—but the definition of "cooperation" apparently varies depending on who's counting.
Meanwhile, when Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn tried to get answers—asking Mayor Michelle Wu to provide details on exactly which ICE requests the city had ignored since January 2024—the City Council shut him down.
The vote? 9-4 against transparency.
Wu's administration has a track record of avoiding accountability. As Mass Daily News previously reported, when a resident peacefully protested the mayor at a city event, Wu's office directly intervened to have him arrested.
Now the city won't even tell its own elected officials how many criminals it's releasing.
Mayor Wu has defended the sanctuary policies throughout, even as ICE arrested more than 1,400 undocumented immigrant offenders across Massachusetts in a single October 2025 operation. Nearly 70% of those arrests? People already charged or convicted of crimes in the United States.
Lyons' message was clear: This isn't about compassion. It's about politics.
And the criminals walking free? They're just collateral damage.
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