Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has strongly rejected threats from the Trump administration targeting sanctuary city policies, vowing that her city will not yield to federal pressure.

Speaking at a press conference outside Boston City Hall on Tuesday, Wu declared, “The U.S. attorney general asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to cover up your administration’s failures. Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law. And Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.”

Her remarks came in response to letters sent last week by the Department of Justice to 13 states and 22 local governments including Boston and Seattle labeling them “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The letters threatened to cut federal funding and pursue legal action if local leaders failed to comply with the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement and mass deportation agenda.

Attorney General Pam Bondi warned that political leaders who, in her view, obstruct federal immigration laws could face prosecution. Her letter demanded that recipients confirm by August 19 their compliance with federal law and outline steps taken to remove policies that hinder immigration enforcement.

Elected in 2021 as Boston’s first woman and first person of color to serve as mayor, Wu responded defiantly. She accused the Trump administration of broader failures, saying, “Under the Trump administration, groceries are less affordable, housing is harder to build, cures for cancer are farther away, and good news on our economy has been as hard to find as the Epstein list.”

Earlier in the day, Wu sent a strongly worded letter to Bondi, asserting that Boston would not “bow down to unconstitutional threats or unlawful coercion.” At her press conference, she doubled down, telling Trump officials, “You are wrong on the law and you are wrong on safety. Most of all, you are wrong on cities.”

Trump has recently characterized Democratic-led cities as crime-ridden, amid an extraordinary federal intervention in Washington, D.C. Wu countered this narrative, pointing to Boston’s close cooperation with state and federal law enforcement agencies in counterterrorism, harbor and airport security, and efforts against drug and human trafficking.

Condemning what she described as “false and continuous attacks on American cities,” Wu pledged that Boston would remain steadfast. “Boston will never back down from being a beacon of freedom, and a home for everyone,” she wrote.