Boston Mayor Wu takes on ICE, defends city with Ronnie Chieng

By Randall Yip, Executive Editor

An incredulous Ronnie Chieng sat down with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu with one thing on his mind- how did she become Mayor in “arguably the most racist city in America?”

Wu answered the same question multiple times, albeit asked in different ways. Wu is the first person of color to be mayor of Boston, as well as the first woman to be mayor there.

“Next time you come to Boston you will have to schedule an extra day, and I will take you around the city and then you’ll see. We are an incredibly diverse and welcoming city,” she said. “Majority people of color, majority immigrants.”

Chieng acknowledged his image of Boston may have been impacted by his childhood experience. Raised in New Hampshire, his family would often come to Boston’s Chinatown to stock up on groceries. Apparently, his experience there as a child was not a good one.

“So how did you become the mayor of Boston?” he asked again. “I don’t know if you’ve been to Boston but this is not the demographic for mayor of Boston.

“Boston has always been the place where people come for 400 years to make good in the world.”

“But also…” said a skeptical Chieng.

“OK, don’t make me go against New York here. We have better sports teams, better quality of life,” she said to a booing but also laughing crowd from New York.”

Chieng eventually moved on to immigration, pointing out that Wu testified before Congress defending Boston’s declaration that it is a sanctuary city.

“What do you say to people in your constituency, hey, why are we doing this? What’s the big deal with this sanctuary city thing? If people are illegally here in this country, shouldn’t we arrest them and get rid of them? What is the big deal?

“We are the safest city because we’re safe for everyone. In a community where over a quarter of your residents come from, were born in another country, if people are afraid to drop their kids off from school, or call 911 when they need help, or share information when they actually have information to report about a crime that happened, that makes everyone less safe whether or not you are an immigrant. It’s about a false narrative that immigrants are more likely to commit more crimes or cause harm. And that is simply not true.

“Our immigrant communities are entrepreneurs, are holding up our health- the best hospitals in the country, the universities and jobs that we all rely on. And in order to make sure that we can keep that progress going, everyone has to feel part of it.”

Wu is part of a small group of Asian American mayors in medium to larger cities in this country. The others are Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.