The Department of Justice put Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on notice about the feds’ plan to visit her to gauge how City Hall is responding to incidents of antisemitism at the Hub’s schools and college campuses over the past two years.
Wu was one of four big-city mayors to be notified of an impending visit from the DOJ’s Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which was created via an executive order from President Donald Trump.
Task Force leadership said it was following up on allegations that schools in the four targeted cities, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, “may have failed to protect Jewish students from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law.”
“Too many elected officials chose not to stand up to a rising tide of antisemitism in our cities and campuses following the horrific events of October 7, 2023,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, referring to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel that sparked war in the region. “Actions have consequences — inaction does too.”
Leading Task Force member and Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell said he intends for the Task Force to meet with city leadership, impacted students, local law enforcement, and community members in Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, “as it gathers information” about the alleged incidents and “considers whether federal intervention is warranted.”
Three of the mayors, Wu, Eric Adams of New York and Brandon Johnson of Chicago, appeared before a Republican-led Congressional oversight committee last week as part of the House committee’s probe of sanctuary cities and how their limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities impacts public safety.
“The Task Force looks forward to meeting with the mayors and other municipal leaders in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston to quickly and effectively identify ways that, working together or apart, we return safety, civility and sanity to our nation’s schools,” Terrell said in a statement.
“These meetings, in conjunction with our visits to university campuses across the country, are just two of the many actions President Trump and Attorney General Bondi are taking to end this scourge of antisemitism,” he added.
Wu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The meetings with Wu and the three other mayors were initiated by the DOJ soon after the U.S. Department of Education warned 60 colleges and universities from across the country of potential enforcement actions if they do not protect Jewish students on their campuses.
Nine of the colleges and universities targeted by Trump this week are from New England, including two from Boston.
The Department of Education letter was sent to Boston University, Emerson College, Harvard University, Tufts University, UMass Amherst and Wellesley College, as well as Middlebury College in Vermont, Brown University in Rhode Island and Yale University in Connecticut.
The two federal notifications come after pro-Palestinian students at colleges and universities around the nation held protests last year against Israel’s war in Gaza. Israel declared war on Hamas after the terrorist group launched a surprise attack in the country on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed 1,200 people.
Roughly 48,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
Boston Police, at Wu’s direction, arrested more than 100 people last year at an Emerson College encampment set up in the Boylston Place Alley in downtown Boston. College officials later banned protests in the alleyway and put in place restrictions on public demonstrations.
The mayor was criticized for the arrests, with student protestors claiming they were injured by zip ties while being taken into custody. Some city councilors also condemned the police response as “heavy-handed.”
Officials at Harvard University sanctioned 35 students who protested against the war in Gaza last year by setting up an encampment at the institution.
While only two of the six Massachusetts colleges targeted this week by the feds have campuses located in Boston, Tufts has additional facilities located in the Hub and Harvard is part of the city’s payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, program.