Blue city funds immigrant activist program with taxpayer dollars, critics say it 'shuts citizens out'

Boston is funding a leadership-training program open only to immigrants, drawing criticism that it discriminates against U.S.-born residents. The Immigrants Lead Boston program, run through Mayor Michelle Wu's Office for Immigrant Advancement, gives "emerging leaders" from immigrant communities, including non-citizens, ten weeks of training in political organizing and meetings with city officials, with a $575 scholarship available to participants, according to Fox News.

Online critics said the eligibility rules effectively lock citizens out of a government-backed opportunity paid for with their own taxes. One social media post called it "a political pipeline built to shut citizens out of their own city." Others accused the city of funding advocacy training for people in the country illegally, questioned whether the program amounted to discrimination, and likened Wu's approach to authoritarian governance. A separate commenter argued that extending benefits to people who broke immigration law only rewards and encourages further unlawful behavior.

The dispute unfolds amid a wider pattern of Democratic-led cities and states offering taxpayer-funded benefits to immigrants, especially in education. The Justice Department has separately sued Vermont, Connecticut and New York over laws accused of giving immigrants in the country illegally tuition advantages over American citizens, and Nebraska recently agreed to end comparable in-state tuition benefits as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. Wu has also faced attention over her administration's handling of federal immigration enforcement in the city.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →