Mayor Wu to testify before Congress on immigration. Follow live updates.

Mayor Wu will testify Wednesday before the Republican-led US House Oversight Committee in Washington, D.C., in order to make the case that the city’s immigration policies do not undermine community safety, but rather bolster it.

Wu is one of four Democratic mayors set to testify before the committee, whose GOP leadership is investigating the immigration practices of Boston, Denver, Chicago, and New York in what’s expected to be a splashy, made-for-TV hearing.

Wu may not be the most fiery mayor speaking before the committee

Wu is relatively soft spoken, and has not always sought out the national spotlight. Other mayors appearing before the panel that day may face more aggressive questioning from the committee, and shoot back more aggressive answers.

Mayor Mike Johnston of Denver said last year he would be willing to go to jail to stop deportation efforts he considers illegal. And Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago is likely to face questions over that city’s higher crime rate.

Republicans have already set a combative tone

Republicans on the committee have already set a combative tone for Wednesday’s hearing. They released a three-minute video last week teasing the panel as if it were an upcoming prestige television event, complete with menacing music, flames, and news clips about migrants accused of violent crimes. GOP chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, and other committee members recently discussed immigration policy with Stephen Miller, who has been behind some of Trump’s most aggressive enforcement measures, Politico reported .

Boston has already been a target for national Republicans, particularly on immigration. Border czar Tom Homan has many times criticized the city, attacking both Wu and police Commissioner Michael Cox.

Congressional hearings are not a level playing field, experts warn

Attorneys who regularly prepare witnesses for congressional testimony warn that it can be difficult to escape unscathed. The soundbites that emerge tend to be good political fodder for the people asking the questions, not the ones answering them, they said.

“It’s very difficult to win a hearing. It’s easy to lose one, as a witness,” said Christopher Armstrong, a partner at Holland & Knight who co-leads the group’s congressional investigations team. Wednesday’s event is “what I call a punching bag hearing,” he added. “The reason they’re holding this hearing is because they want to rake you over the coals and have spent about six weeks preparing for that.”

One approach, Armstrong said, is to avoid “creating the big YouTube moments, because they’ll often work against you.”

City officials say Wu has been preparing for weeks

Wu, who gave birth to her third child in January , has been preparing for the high-stakes public appearance for weeks, city officials said. By the time she speaks Wednesday, Wu will have roughly a dozen prep sessions under her belt in which she drilled with City Hall staff, outside counsel, and police officials. She often brought along her newborn daughter Mira to the meetings, taking occasional breaks to nurse.

She called each member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, some of whom serve on the committee she’ll appear before Wednesday. She also looked to Cahill Gordon & Reindel for help, selecting a firm that is not based in Boston but has offices in New York and on Washington, D.C.‘s K Street, among other locations.

As part of her prep, Wu met in recent weeks with Haitian leaders in Mattapan, advocates and nonprofit leaders in East Boston, faith leaders from across the city, and immigrant residents and business owners at La Colaborativa, in nearby Chelsea. She gathered stories she might share with the committee and also collected support from local leaders.

Here’s what’s at stake for Mayor Wu

Congressional hearings like this one have ended careers and soiled reputations; look no further than the 2023 panel on campus antisemitism that led one prominent university president to resign within days and ultimately contributed to the downfall of Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first Black president .

Yet the high-profile public appearance, which comes at the beginning of a reelection year, also gives Wu the chance to tell the nation — and voters back home — about Boston’s public safety success stories, and the city’s approach to welcoming new arrivals.

Wu hired outside law firm to help her prepare for testimony

The city of Boston has turned to an outside law firm, Cahill Gordon & Reindel , to help Mayor Wu prepare to testify before the Republican-led US House Oversight Committee, at the rate of $950 per hour.

Hiring outside attorneys — whose tab could rise as high as $650,000, according to city officials — is just one of many steps the mayor has taken to gear up for a hearing Wednesday that is both a minefield and a potential political opportunity. Wu has also looked to her colleagues in the Massachusetts congressional delegation as well as nonprofit, business, and religious leaders across the city as she readies for the high-stakes hearing.

As Wu heads to Washington, Boston’s crime stats show reductions in severe violence

Boston’s record on crime and safety has drawn national attention in recent weeks, as Mayor Michelle Wu prepares to testify before Congress about the city’s policies on immigration enforcement.

President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has attacked Wu and police Commissioner Michael Cox over the city’s immigrant friendly policies, including city law that, in accordance with a state court ruling , prevents police from enforcing immigration law. And Wu’s critics have faulted the mayor in online forums, trying to paint Boston as a lawless, crime-ridden city — particularly after a fatal shooting last weekend.

But here’s what the Boston Police Department data show: Some of the most concerning types of violent crime have declined dramatically in Boston since Wu first took office in November 2021.

Homicides fell by more than half, from 56 in 2020 to 24 last year, data from the BPD show. That total is the lowest in 67 years, and less than 20 percent of the total in 1990, the city’s most violent year on record.

Wu’s testimony puts Boston back in national GOP’s crosshairs

A new Republican-led Washington has put Boston and its mayor in its crosshairs, spotlighting the city’s immigration policies and positioning Mayor Michelle Wu to become the face of a liberal resistance movement, should she choose.

“D.C. is going to play politics. Let them do what they’re doing. We’re going to stay focused on serving our communities here,” Wu said at City Hall. “We have our domain, and we feel very strongly that we’re on solid legal ground.”

The mayor touted Boston as “the safest major city in the country” and promised, “we’ll respond in due time” to the letter. She did not commit to appearing before the committee, and has not received a subpoena to do so.