Emotions over Boston's illegal immigration protections boil over at mayoral debate

BOSTON — Tensions surrounding illegal immigration spilled over into a Boston mayoral forum Wednesday with candidate Josh Kraft’s vow to defy the Trump administration’s mass deportation push drawing jeers from the crowd that briefly shut down debate.

The tension at Dorchester’s packed Prince Hall started as the moderator, Yawu Miller of Flipside News, was posing a rather loaded question about immigration to the four candidates taking part in the second forum of the mayoral race, Kraft, Mayor Michelle Wu, Domingos DaRosa, and Robert Cappucci.

“In today’s political climate, immigrant communities are increasingly under threat. How would you defend these communities and push back against harmful actions by ICE or a hostile federal administration,” Miller asked, before having to stop and say “excuse me” as the majority-Black crowd packed into an auditorium near the city’s troubled Mass and Cass intersection was reacting to his question.

He then continued, “What concrete strategies would you implement to ensure the safety and protection of all residents in Boston, regardless of immigration status?”

DaRosa, a community activist known for his advocacy around cleaning up Mass and Cass spillover into Roxbury’s Clifford Park and self-described immigrant, appeared to curry favor with the crowd when he spoke of the importance of balancing the rights of new arrivals with existing Boston residents.

“There’s a lot we can do to support our immigration community,” DaRosa said. “What I like to say to us as a city is to also remember that we also have Bostonians who are also looking for those same rights, to make sure that we protect folks who live here who are looking for the same services.”

Kraft, a son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner and longtime philanthropist, took a harder line.

“I think it’s absolutely abhorrent that federal agents could walk into your place of work, your house of worship or your children’s schools and remove you, even if you have zero connection to violent crime,” Kraft said. “I’m completely against President Trump’s mass deportation plans, and I will stand with our immigrant community wholeheartedly, no matter who is in the White House.”

Kraft’s remarks drew such a harsh reaction from part of the crowd, with onlookers standing up, jeering and shouting in his direction, that an event organizer had to go on to the stage to settle things down and warn against future interruptions.

After the forum resumed, Kraft was given another minute or so to repeat the part of his answer that was cut off by the crowd response, which drew a smattering of applause from the other side of the room.

Wu, who defended the city’s sanctuary status and limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities at a Congressional hearing in D.C. this past March, jumped in next, and blamed anti-immigration rhetoric for the crowd’s passionate response.

“In Boston, 29% of our residents are immigrants who were born in a different country,” Wu said. “We, as a city, have a responsibility to make sure that everyone is getting what they need. I just want to say in this room and in every room, that part of the strategy of those who are trying to make us turn against each other and point fingers is to say there’s not enough.

“So you’ve got to find someone who is the other. We need to get past this,” the first-term progressive mayor said. “We’re not the other right now. Let them come for someone else. They are snatching people off the street right now, masked police, not asking questions, trying to suggest that all immigrants have a criminal history.”

Cappucci, who has positioned himself as a conservative alternative in the race, stated throughout the night that he would work with President Donald Trump.

“There are a lot of people very upset in terms of who got here legitimately, who got to live here illegitimately, and again, you go back to love God and love thy neighbor,” Cappucci said. “My job would be to try to settle this argument.”

Wu and Kraft, seen as the mayor’s major opponent, both addressed the tension around the immigration question, when asked about the crowd’s strong reaction to remarks around defying the feds’ mass deportation push after the forum.

“To each his own,” Kraft told reporters. “I know where I stand.”

Speaking to remarks made to settle down the crowd, Wu told reporters, “I think, as the organizers have said, there’s a wide range of opinions in Boston. There’s a wide range of really intense emotions because it is very personal.

“We need to make sure that we’re taking care of all of our community members,” Wu said, “but also recognizing that there are a lot of false stereotypes and narratives being pushed out there about immigrants being dangerous or immigrants somehow being harmful to our community when, in fact, we know that we are the safest major city in the country because we have been able to engage everyone.”

Other fireworks during the night occurred when Joao DePina, a crowd member who was heckling Mayor Wu, was escorted out of the building after an earlier warning. He was booted out for heckling when candidates were discussing transportation priorities, and continued to protest outside the building.

Kraft and DaRosa both said they would pause bike lanes and cater to all modes of transportation, while Wu has talked in both forums about sticking with the city’s long-term goal of reducing its dependence on cars.

Wu also took some heat from the crowd over her resistance to moving to an elected school committee, which drew roughly 80% support from Boston voters in a non-binding 2021 ballot question.

Kraft favors a hybrid elected and appointed membership, while Wu supports the current all-mayoral appointed model to get the school district back on track after a long period of instability that nearly left it in state receivership.

Cappucci joined Kraft and DaRosa in speaking to the importance of supporting the will of the voters, but did say he was uncomfortable with an elected school committee that did not serve the city well in the past.

“I believe there was too much pressure put on the superintendent … by the elected people,” Cappucci said.

Wu was the only candidate not to support rent control with a 5% annual cap on rental increases, though she said her opposition, which came in a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question round, was due to her proposal being for a 6% cap.

The day’s forum was hosted by MassVOTE, Right to the City Vote, New England Community Project, NAACP Boston Branch, Reclaim Roxbury, the Massachusetts Affordable Homeownership Alliance, True Alliance Center, Save Our Homes, and other community organizations and nonprofits.

-------------