The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to testify at a hearing regarding “sanctuary jurisdictions… and their impact on public safety and the effectiveness of federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.”

Wu says she doesn’t understand why the committee wants to her from her because, she claims, Boston already does its part enforcing the law.

“Our police department takes care of criminal activity and they focus on local issues,” Wu said Tuesday. “Whenever someone breaks the law, we hold them accountable here regardless of their immigration status, which we do not ask about.”

Wu also claimed that under former President Joe Biden, “there was targeting of those with serious criminal allegations or backgrounds or prior history of deportation.”

But data since President Donald Trump took office tell another story: multiple arrests of illegal immigrants who’ve committed serious crimes, whose location was known to immigration enforcement agents, but not taken into custody.

Until now.

Among the illegal aliens arrested in the past week in the Boston metro area:

Wisteguens Jean Quely Charles

Wisteguens Jean Quely Charles, a known gang member and 25-year-old Haitian national with 17 criminal convictions who went viral last week when he was caught on camera praising Biden and former President Barack Obama.

“I’m not going back to Haiti,” Charles said. “F*** Trump, you feel me? Biden forever!”

According to ICE, federal agents came across Charles in April 2023 following one of his arrests and lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Norfolk County House of Corrections.

“However, the correctional facility released Charles Oct. 20, 2023, without honoring the immigration detainer,” ICE reported.

Juan Alberto Rodezno-Marin

Juan Alberto Rodezno-Marin, a previously deported 39-year-old Honduran national charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, masked armed robbery and assault to rape.

According to ICE, Rodezno-Marin was incarcerated at the Middlesex County House of Correction and issued an immigration detainer in December 2022. He was arraigned in March 2023 and charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, masked armed robbery, and assault to rape.

“Middlesex Superior Court ignored the ICE detainer and released Rodezno-Marin back into the community Dec. 4, 2024,” according to ICE.

Cesar Polanco

Cesar Polanco, a Dominican national convicted in 2007 of murdering his pregnant wife in front of their 5-year-old son, was freed last month by the Massachusetts Parole Board.

Polanco, who served only 17 years of a life sentence, was living in Boston when ICE agents tracked him down.

According to Bill Melugin, who accompanied immigration enforcement agents, ICE made eight arrests in a single day, including multiple MS-13 gang members, and murder and rape suspects.

Wu told WGBH radio in Boston that she was upset —  not by the criminals loose in Boston, but by the media coverage.

“With Fox News going along… with this element wanting to sensationalize and stoke greater fear,” Wu complained.

Illegal aliens in Massachusetts who are accused — or in some cases convicted — of committing violent crimes are nothing new. Over the past year there have been a string of arrests involving migrants accused of rape, murder and other crimes. Several of the sex assault allegations involved children, and, in two cases, the alleged victims were disabled.

And yet, in multiple interviews since Trump’s election, Wu has insisted that local law enforcement has carried the necessary arrests of illegal immigrants charged with violent crimes.

Wu said in a Nov. 12 interview that Boston’s TRUST Act “puts strict prohibitions on local law enforcement from becoming the enforcement arm for the whims of whatever approach of federal immigration law might be.”

“There are certain exceptions, for example — particular types of warrant around particular types of criminal activity. Human trafficking. Drug trafficking. Federal crimes. Specific instances.”

Wu’s comments prompted a terse response from Tom Homan, the former acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement who now serves as Trump’s designated “border czar.”

“Either she helps us or she gets the hell out of the way,” Homan said, directing Wu to review federal immigration laws regarding harboring or concealing illegal immigrants from law enforcement. “There’s a clear line here and they can’t cross the clear line.”

Wu held a press conference Tuesday and fielded questions from reporters about the invitation from House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to answer questions from federal lawmakers about Boston’s status as a sanctuary city.

She immediately dismissed the inquiry as partisan-driven.

“It seems that D.C. is going to play politics, let them do what they’re doing, we’re going to stay focused on serving our communities locally,” Wu said. “We feel very strongly that we’re on solid legal ground because we’re following the law every day.”

The committee’s invitation includes a request for Wu to order the city to hand over all documents and communications related to Boston’s “sanctuary status.”

According to the committee, Boston was one of four cities singled out due to “its abject failure to comply with federal law.”

“Sanctuary jurisdictions and their misguided and obstructionist policies hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities, making Americans less safe,” Comer wrote.