Boston mayor to use FOIA to identify owners owners willing to lease parking to ICE

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced on August 16 that her administration will use public records requests to identify private property owners who may be willing to lease parking spaces to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a move the Department of Homeland Security has condemned as intimidation. The action comes after ICE posted a notice in late July seeking market research on potential parking leases in several cities, including Boston, where it specified a need for 249 contiguous spaces.

Wu, speaking on WCVB-TV's "On The Record," said the city will file a Freedom of Information Act request to learn which property owners have responded to the federal agency's solicitation. She stated that while Boston cannot legally block private owners from leasing their property, the city intends to contact them to discourage cooperation. "We strongly oppose any expansion of their efforts here 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," Wu said.

The mayor cited recent ICE enforcement actions, including a fatal shooting of a migrant by an agent in Maine in July, as...