Immigration enforcement supporters clashed with sanctuary city advocates outside City Hall Wednesday as a congressional committee heard from Mayor Michelle Wu in Washington.

Some protesters from both sides met face-to-face in showdowns, triggering Boston Police officers to intervene and break up multiple verbal confrontations. No arrests were made during the high-energy event while Wu testified on sanctuary city policies in D.C.

The sanctuary city advocates drowned out the immigration enforcement supporters who shouted “Legal, not illegal” and “Shame on Wu,” among other chants, while holding signs that read “Sanctuary protects criminals,” “End the Trust Act,” and “Deport Democrats.”

Boston is a sanctuary city under its Trust Act, a 2014 local law that bars city police and other departments from cooperating with federal authorities on civil immigration detainers.

Boston resident Mike Dorigan arrived at City Hall before more than a hundred Wu supporters gathered. He told the Herald that he approves the federal government enforcing immigration law and is against the local resistance to supporting the feds.

Dorigan pointed to how the state has already spent more than half a billion dollars this fiscal year on taxpayer-funded shelters housing migrants and local families.

“When you look at it we’ve been paying a substantial amount of money to the support in the aiding and care of the illegal immigrants who came in the last couple of years,” he said. “How does that benefit Boston residents?”

Sanctuary city advocates held signs that read “We’re with Wu!! Boston supports sanctuary!” “Boston is still the cradle of liberty!” and “I don’t care if my NEIGHBORS have DOCUMENTS or NOT.”

One sign referenced “Border czar” Tom Homan’s warning late last month that he would come to Boston, “bringing hell” to the city.” Homan also slammed Police Commissioner Michael Cox for the department’s limited cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

“Stay the hell out of Boston Homan!” the sign read.

Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft made a brief appearance outside City Hall but left around the time the sanctuary city rally began. He told reporters that he stands with all immigrants, many of whom are “doing the right thing to live here and thrive here.”

“What my beliefs are is that I’m against the mass deportation that President Trump is pushing and the vitriol that Homan spoke about our great city,” Kraft said.

Henry Barbaro, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform, called out the estimated $650,000 the Wu administration spent in preparing for Wednesday’s hearing as a “terrible way to spend tax dollars.”

“The whole idea is that immigration is here to help the country, to benefit the country,” Barbaro told the Herald. “It’s not to let in people who have criminal tendencies and are going to prey upon American citizens and legal immigrants.”

City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and At-Large City Councilor Julia Mejia led the rally “standing in solidarity with immigrant communities,” alongside the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition and ACLU of Massachusetts.

The ACLU sued the first Trump administration 400 times, field director Laura Rotolo told the crowd, and it is “on track to do more this time around.”

“When Trump and his cronies come to Boston we will be waiting for them,” Rotolo said. “By now, we know his playbook. Today’s hearing is for bullying and intimidation, trying to force local governments to carry out his hateful agenda. We are not going to do it.”

Supporters of sanctuary city policies and Mayor Michelle Wu gathered outside Boston City Hall on Wednesday. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft speaks before a rally in support of Mayor Michelle Wu. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Protesters fill City Hall Plaza, Wednesday. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)