Boston's Democratic mayor has worked hard to depreciate the value of citizenship and degrade the quality of living in her city.

Michelle Wu, a soft-on-crime defender of race-segregated events who drafted a list of critics for police to check on, has funneled taxpayer funds to nonprofits that aid illegal aliens; advocated for closing the Boston Police gang database as well as for allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections; conditioned participation in city life on vaccination status; stood idly by while undocumented migrants overwhelm her city; and looked to noncitizens and children to make potential budgetary decisions.

Given her track record and Boston's "sanctuary city" status, Wu's recent suggestions that Beantown might try to hinder the incoming Trump administration's efforts to deport criminal illegal aliens were altogether unsurprising. She may have, however, been surprised by the frankness of the response by President-elect Donald Trump's incoming "border czar."

'They can't cross a clear line.'

Wu, who is planning to run for re-election in 2025, reminded GBH News last week that Boston law prohibits police and city officials from helping federal authorities track down and deport illegal aliens. While the laws on the books only guarantee passivity from local law enforcement, she intimated that the city might take an active role in impeding deportation efforts, noting that she has been planning for a number of different scenarios.

"We still have other mechanisms where we can identify spaces that might be most targeted and think about protections there," said Wu.

When speaking to WCVB-TV on Sunday, Wu appeared to suggest that the city will exhaust its options when protecting illegal aliens from consequence.

What we can do is make sure that we are doing our part to protect our residents in every possible way, that we are not cooperating with those efforts that actually threaten the safety of everyone by causing widespread fear and having large-scale economic impact. And then we are providing the spaces to reach out directly to our residents because the last thing we want is for people who are part of our economy, part of our school system, part of our community and the fabric of our city to feel that all of a sudden, they have to retreat in the shadows.

In response to Wu, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas D. Homan told Newsmax TV's Greg Kelly, "She's not very smart."

"President Trump is going to prioritize public safety threats. What mayor or governor doesn't want public safety threats out of their communities? That's our number one responsibility: to protect their communities, and that's exactly what we're going to do," said Homan. "So she helps us [or] she gets the hell out of the way because we're going to do it."

Homan stressed that federal law is explicit and Wu would do best to follow it.

"There's a clear line here. They can't cross a clear line. I would suggest that she read Title 8, United States Code 1324 iii that says you can't harbor, conceal an illegal alien from federal law enforcement officers," said Homan. "I hope she don't cross that line. They can not cooperate, but there are certain laws in place that they can't cross."

The law that Homan referred to makes it a punishable offense if one "conceals, harbors or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor or shield from detection" illegal aliens.

If violating the statute and placing someone's life in jeopardy, the offender could be fined and/or imprisoned for up to 20 years for each alien involved. If by violating the statute an individual gets someone killed, then the offender could be "punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life."

Like Wu, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has indicated that she would use "every tool in the toolbox" to shield "residents" from accountability.

Blaze News previously reported that Homan intends to send more ICE officers to sanctuary jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

"If they're not gonna help us, then we'll just double the manpower in those cities. They don't want ICE agents in their neighborhoods, but they don't let ICE agents in the jail. They don't understand, if you let us in the jail, that'd be less agents in your neighborhood," Homan told "Fox News Live."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!