Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared this week that his city “will not ever cooperate with ICE.”
Speaking during a press conference, the mayor said, “You know, again, it’s unconscionable at a time in which so many working people and poor people need government to show up for them, that this administration, the Trump administration, has caused so much consternation and division.”
“Look, we are welcoming city ordinance,” Johnson added. “Our local police department will not ever cooperate with ICE, whatever their constitutional authority is. That is obviously relegated to the Trump administration. All of our sister agencies, city departments have been thoroughly briefed by a corporate counsel, and I’ll pass it over to her in a second about what they can and cannot do.”
Johnson appeared before Congress in March to testify on Chicago’s sanctuary city policies, where he claimed that the city is “safer because of our Welcoming City Ordinance.”
“City leaders have understood that fear of deportation would chill effective law enforcement by causing witnesses and victims to avoid cooperating with police, and that the cooperation of all persons, regardless of their immigration status, is essential to achieving the City’s goals of reducing crime, pursuing justice for victims, and promoting safety for all,” he said at the time. “Put simply, any actions that amplify fears of deportations make Chicago more dangerous.”
Johnson further claimed that the policy “enables trusting and supportive relationships between local law enforcement and immigrant communities,” arguing that “when that trust is formed, undocumented immigrants come forward to report crimes to local law enforcement and provide information that helps the police solve those crimes.”
