Border czar Tom Homan may be headed soon to the “safest major city in the country.” But he had better be careful not to get mugged in Downtown Crossing.
While Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox and Mayor Michelle Wu were high-fiving each other celebrating their “historic run” in keeping the crime rate down, people have been running for cover in the heart of the city.
Assaults, robberies, stabbings and drug dealing have caused a 7-year high in crime in Boston’s downtown shopping district.
Just last week, two teens were arrested for allegedly assaulting and robbing a man in Macy’s. Police reported that a group of five juveniles punched and kicked the victim multiple times after following him around the store and taking video of him. One of the arrested teens spat on a police officer who was putting the juvenile in handcuffs, according to police.
But why let the facts ruin a good story for Cox and Wu? They have their heads in the clouds, hoping nobody notices the assaults, just like they do with illegal immigrant crime.
“The city has never been safer, period,” Cox said at a press conference several months ago.
But Homan has noticed. Now Cox looks like one of the weaker law enforcement officials in the nation as he is forced to parrot political talking points from the mayor’s office.
Cox has said the police will refuse to enforce civil detainers from ICE, repeating the claim from the mayor.
“We just don’t do that,” Cox said this month in a televised interview. “We don’t enforce civil detainers regarding federal immigration law. It’s defined here in the state, and that’s just how it works.”
Cox was citing the state’s sanctuary policy as well as Boston’s “Trust Act.” But federal immigration officers have to enforce the law as it pertains to illegal immigrant criminals.
It’s an optics problem for sure – a law enforcement leader refusing to enforce the law. But it’s more than that, it’s a standoff with the feds that could lead to the city facing a funding crisis, one that hurts its ordinary legal citizens.
Putting politics over public safety is expected of a pol like Wu, but not of the highest law enforcement official in the city.
Wu will trip over Andrea Campbell, Maura Healey and Elizabeth Warren in the blue state stampede to become the face of the Trump resistance. But Cox has the most to lose as he is pushed to the front lines of this embarrassing battle to shield immigrants who have committed crimes here. He may say that’s not happening, but the facts are clear.
“We just don’t have the authority to enforce federal law,” Cox said.
The commissioner’s doubling down of the department’s policy caught the attention of Homan over the weekend at a conservative political action conference.
“I’m coming to Boston, I’m bringing hell with me,” the border czar said defiantly.
Homan might want to check out the criminals in Downtown Crossing while he’s at it.
But he might want to avoid the Mass Pike and its falling chunks of concrete.
Just another day in the “safest city” in America led by the “best” police commissioner in the nation.
