A Boston government program has trained 98 foreign-born participants in political advocacy and other activities for “immigrant communities.”
The city’s taxpayer-funded “Immigrants Lead Boston” program enrolled applicants from China, the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere since its 2020 launch, as well as just two participants from the United States, according to official class lists. Boston’s Office for Immigrant Advancement has offered the initiative to help legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and “residents with ties to immigrant communities” with “civic engagement and community organizing,” the city’s website says.
Boston’s program sparked criticism this week after media outlets highlighted a portion of the city’s website saying people should apply “regardless of their immigrant status.” Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s office removed the phrasing from the site after the reports were publicized.
Wu’s office did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. Her team has not yet announced the 2026 Immigrants Lead Boston inductees. The course will provide a $575 “scholarship” to each participant and spans 10 weeks.
The class was most recently led by Civic Engagement Project Manager Hawa Yusuf of the Office for Immigrant Advancement. “The ideal candidate is someone who is connected to a community-based organization,” she told local media in July 2025. “Throughout the duration of this new iteration of the program they can think of a project or campaign that they want to launch, and they could get funded through the community based organization once they apply.”
Former Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s 2020 announcement of Immigrants Lead Boston said it was specifically available to “selected immigrant residents” and “emerging immigrant leaders.”
“The goal is for these participants to become leaders in their communities, sharing what they learned with others and becoming civically active on issues that matter to them,” Walsh’s administration said.
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Boston has also been a so-called sanctuary city, banning police cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement since passing the 2014 Boston Trust Act. The city denied more than 200 ICE detainment requests as of September 2025, freeing criminally charged illegal immigrants from local custody to save them from immigration arrests, the Washington Examiner previously reported.
The Trump administration sued in federal court against the sanctuary ordinance last year, but an Obama-appointed judge dismissed the lawsuit in May.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
