As the steady drip of cabinet confirmations roll in for President Joe Biden’s new administration, one shoo-in, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, has largely escaped major headlines. This may be by design, as Walsh is an obvious choice for labor secretary with his background as a union leader, legislator and mayor.
But while Walsh has so far won praise and dodged controversy, there’s actually plenty of room for critical scrutiny of Walsh’s record—especially as it relates to the intersections of race, immigration and labor. Here’s a quick look.
1. He led a construction union—and labor is behind him
Perhaps most pertinent to Walsh’s confirmation as labor secretary is his experience at the helm of a labor union.
Walsh became a member of the Boston Laborers’ Union Local 223 in the late ’80s, eventually becoming president of the local before serving as a member of the Building and Construction Trades Council prior to becoming a Massachusetts state representative. His work in organized labor made him a champion of development projects that brought union jobs as mayor of Boston, and earned him the respect and endorsement of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
“Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will be an exceptional labor secretary for the same reason he was an outstanding mayor: He carried the tools,” Trumka said in a statement.
Other unions have voiced their support for Walsh, too, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the Communications Workers of America and the Transport Workers Union.
2. Progressives, however, say he’s been too cozy with developers
Despite his labor background, Walsh made it clear throughout his mayorship that he was a friend to developers—even as some argued that it was to the detriment of lower-income Bostonians.
“The hallmark of Walsh’s mayoralty has been gentrification and displacement of the BIPOC communities he claims to support,” a Boston-based activist told the labor newsletter Strikewave shortly after Biden floated Walsh’s name as a cabinet pick. “Meanwhile, the housing market and construction industry have profited from a major increase in development projects in the city.”
As the activist identified only as A.E. by Strikewave noted, development continued throughout the pandemic, even as residents faced an unprecedented eviction crisis. They pointed out that the Harriet Tubman House, a community center used primarily by Black and brown residents of Boston’s gentrifying South End, was torn down in December to build luxury condos in spite of sustained protest from groups led by Bostonians of color.
The soon-to-be labor secretary was also panned by the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders, civil rights lawyers and others after announcing plans to build a giant luxury waterfront development in the gentrifying East Boston area.
Though he was not immediately implicated, a scandal during Walsh’s mayorship that involved a member of Boston’s Zoning Board of Appeal—in which the city official, named John Lynch, was photographed taking bribes in exchange for zoning approval—casts a dark shadow over his relationship to development.
3. He confirmed Boston is a “sanctuary city”—but that declaration may have had holes in it
In February 2017, soon after then-President Donald Trump passed an executive order withholding federal funds from cities that refused to enforce his nativist immigration policies—dubbed “sanctuary cities”—Walsh addressed Boston in the city’s largest mosque and promised that the city would shield undocumented immigrants from deportation. Boston had joined the ranks of the dozens of liberal cities across the United States to declare their municipalities sanctuaries for immigrants in rejection of Trump and his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
In early 2020, however, Walsh and Boston’s schools came under scrutiny amid allegations that school administrators had been passing information about immigrant students to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A lawsuit from a group called Lawyers for Civil Rights claimed that between 2014 and 2019, Boston Public Schools gave more than 100 incident reports to immigration authorities via Boston Regional Intelligence Center, an information-sharing network that works with ICE, among other agencies.
In response to the allegations, a debate over what constitutes collaboration with ICE and what “sanctuary spaces” could be ensued. Walsh pushed back against the claims, saying that “Boston Public Schools is not passing information to ICE on status and immigration” and that they’re “not immigration police.”
4. His track record on police brutality is not great
While uber-public police brutality scandals roiled in other American cities, Boston in 2019 saw one of its own—the controversial “Operation Clean Sweep,” a series of police raids directed at Bostonians experiencing homelessness and substance problems. In early August of that year, an activist tweeted photos of city workers throwing wheelchairs belonging to unhoused people in garbage compactors, and reports claimed that police officers were seen trawling the city’s “Methadone Mile,” asking people for identification to search for past warrants and searching them for contraband.
The raids were reportedly in retaliation for an alleged assault on a Suffolk County corrections officer, though subsequent investigation revealed that some of the footage of the assault was doctored and the officer may have instigated the incident.
Beyond the infamous raids, in which at least 34 people were arrested, Walsh also came under fire for paying lip service to popular sentiments against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May, and then subsequently vetoing an ordinance that would limit BPD’s ability to use tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters.
“It’s an insult to the activism and organizing that defined 2020, and falls far short of the transformational leadership that Boston deserves,” Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu told The Appeal about Walsh’s veto.
5. Nevertheless, he’s tried to make police reforms in the wake of the George Floyd uprising
Walsh has taken major steps to achieve police reform amid calls for the reform, defunding and abolition of police since the 2020 anti-police brutality uprising.
In June 2020, less than a month after Floyd was killed, Walsh proposed the reallocation of 20% of BPD’s overtime budget, totaling $12 million, to social services, community programs and economic initiatives for minority and women-owned businesses.
He also signed an ordinance in early 2021 that created an independent oversight board to investigate allegations of police misconduct. The agency will have two subgroups: the Civil Review Board and the Internal Affairs Oversight Panel.
In a statement about the creation of the office, Walsh used the language of activism to describe the board’s role.
“Now is the time to act with urgency to dismantle systemic racism across our city,” Walsh said in a statement. “The Office of Police Accountability and Transparency will support lasting, generational change by rooting out impropriety and ensuring the type of enhanced oversight that leads to greater community trust.”
