Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's administration runs a taxpayer-funded program that trains immigrants in political activism while excluding U.S.-born citizens from enrolling.
The Immigrants Lead Boston program, operated by the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement, offers a $575 scholarship for a 10-week course in civic engagement and community organizing. The city's boston.gov page states applicants may apply "regardless of their immigration status." That opens enrollment to green-card holders, DACA recipients, refugees, asylum-seekers, and undocumented residents.
The program launched under former Mayor Marty Walsh in fall 2020 and is now in its seventh cohort under Wu, who has continued and expanded it.
Criticism surfaced on X around September 28, 2026. Fox News reported that critics have seized on both the taxpayer funding and the eligibility requirements, arguing that U.S.-born residents are excluded from the program. Mass Daily News reported that native-born Bostonians are barred entirely, citing the city's own website. Multiple accounts on X have characterized the program as a political pipeline designed to shut citizens out.
Seven cohorts in, and the only people locked out of Boston's activism scholarship are the ones footing the bill.
Fox News described the program as designed for "emerging leaders" interested in advocating for Boston's immigrant communities. Participants meet city officials and receive training in engaging with local government and organizing within their communities. Right-leaning site The Gateway Pundit, which surfaced the story, characterized the exclusion of citizens as potentially illegal.
The program raises unresolved questions about whether public funds can legally support a program that bars citizens from participation.