Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is paying immigrants — including those in the country illegally — $575 each to complete a ten-week political organizing course, while U.S.-born Boston residents are explicitly barred from applying.
The program, Immigrants Lead Boston, is run by the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement and is now in its seventh cohort under Wu, according to Mass Daily News. The city's own program page states applicants may apply "regardless of their immigration status" and that "Candidates must be Boston residents, immigrants," Fox News reported. That excludes native-born American citizens from a taxpayer-funded program entirely.
The curriculum covers "organizing, public narrative, city government, immigration history, racism, and equity," according to the New Bedford Guide. Classes are conducted in English, Spanish, or Haitian Creole. Participants who complete the course receive $575 in what the city calls a "scholarship."
The program launched under former Mayor Marty Walsh in fall 2020 and has been continued and expanded by Wu, per Not the Bee.
Graduates have put their training to work. The New Boston Post reported that program alumni have gone on to advocate for driver's licenses for illegal aliens and pushed rent control across the city.
The payouts have not been limited to $575. Investigative reporter Natalie Winters reported in a September 26 Substack post that the program launched Community Action Project grants of up to $10,000 in 2025 for community organizations partnering with immigrant participants. Boston's PBS station, GBH-TV, reported that city hall offered $4.5 million for migrants through both private and public funding.
The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition sponsors the program, according to the New Bedford Guide. That group funds deportation-defense lawyers and opposes Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Critics on social media slammed the program. "That is not charity. That is a political pipeline built to shut citizens out of their own city," one user wrote on X, per Fox News. Another posted: "Paying illegal immigrants to learn political organizing to protest against the country they're in."
"Illegal aliens have broken our laws. Any assistance given them other than assistance to leave the country, simply rewards their unlawful behavior, encourages other unlawful behavior, and more illegals to follow their lead," another user wrote.
Twitchy noted that the program requires no proof of legal status, opening the door to green-card holders, DACA recipients, refugees, asylum-seekers, and undocumented residents.
Similar taxpayer-backed benefits for immigrants have surfaced in other Democratic-led states. New York, Connecticut and Vermont have offered in-state tuition or other financial benefits to immigrants in the country illegally, while Oregon and Washington have provided access to benefits such as state grants or student loans. California allows qualifying students in the country illegally to apply for state financial aid.
Wu's immigration record extends beyond the scholarship program. Last month, she wrote to private Boston parking garage and lot owners urging them not to lease space to ICE after the Department of Homeland Security issued a procurement notice seeking roughly 249 "surge parking" spaces near Boston-area ICE facilities. DHS called Wu "unhinged" and accused her of "hunting down private property owners."
The program's existence raises questions about how a city office can legally exclude American citizens from a publicly funded benefit based on national origin. It is not yet known whether any legal challenge has been filed or whether federal funding plays any role in the program's budget.
Our Take
Here is what Boston taxpayers are actually funding: a $575 bounty on turning foreigners — including people who broke into this country — into political operatives whose job is to change American immigration policy. Not to learn English and contribute to the economy. Not to assimilate. To organize.
Read the eligibility rules again. "Candidates must be Boston residents, immigrants." If your grandparents were born in South Boston and you want to learn how your city government works, you cannot get a scholarship. If you crossed the border illegally and want to shut down ICE, Boston will hand you $575 for a ten-week course training you to fight deportations.
The graduates aren't organizing bake sales. Per the New Boston Post, they've pushed for driver's licenses for illegal aliens and rent control. This is a machine, and Boston taxpayers are paying for the fuel.
Ask yourself a simple question: what would happen if a Republican mayor in a red state took tax dollars and paid only white American citizens to learn political organizing? Every legacy media outlet in the country would be on it within the hour. The headline would write itself.
Wu's program has been running for six years — launched under Walsh, expanded under Wu. Millions of dollars steered to noncitizens to build political power, while the people whose taxes fund it are locked out. And remember, last month Wu was caught pressuring private garage owners to help shield illegal aliens from ICE enforcement. This is not a mistake. This is a pattern.
If you live in Boston, your mayor is spending your money to build an activist army aimed at your own country's immigration laws. Call her office. Demand the program page come down. And if you're in another blue city, check whether your mayor is running the same playbook — because where Boston goes, they follow.
