Politics
Chicago Will Remain a Sanctuary City, Despite Donald Trump’s Threats, Mayor Brandon Johnson Says
Mayor Brandon Johnson addresses the news media on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Heather Cherone / WTTW News)
City officials will continue to shield all immigrants in Chicago from federal agents, regardless of whether they are citizens, permanent residents or asylum seekers, despite the election of President-elect Donald Trump, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday.
In his first remarks on the outcome of the presidential race, Johnson said Chicago will not allow Chicago Police officers to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deport Chicagoans. That assistance is now prohibited by city ordinance.
“We will not bend or break,” Johnson said. “Our values will remain strong and firm. We will face likely hurdles in our work over the next four years but we will not be stopped and we will not go back.”
One of Trump’s first acts as president-elect was to name former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as his “border czar.” Homan will be charged with leading what the official platform of the Republican Party calls the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
Trump said he will instruct federal agents to conduct deportation operations at schools, churches and playgrounds and to deport all undocumented immigrants, not just those accused of criminal acts.
Homan told Fox News he would recommend that federal funds be stripped from cities who do not assist federal immigration agents. During his first term in office, Chicago fought a similar attempt all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won.
Homan also promised to “flood agents to the sanctuary cities” to deport undocumented immigrants.
Johnson said he was prepared to fight any effort to stop federal funds from flowing to Chicago because it will not cooperate with mass deportation efforts, and would work to stop the arrival of immigration agents.
Read More: What Does It Mean That Chicago Is a Sanctuary City? Here’s What to Know
Johnson called those threats “unconscionable and dangerous,” and called the president-elect a “tyrant.”
Trump’s promise to eliminate the Department of Education would destroy public education and poses a serious threat to Black Chicagoans, Johnson said.
“Whether it’s anti-Black or antisemitic, we’re going to protect people, and we’re going to invest in people,” said Johnson, who campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris, the former Democratic nominee. “The city of Chicago will be better, stronger and safer despite who's in the White House.”
Trump’s vow to conduct the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history would put the thousands of undocumented immigrants who call Chicago home at risk of deportation, threatening to uproot families and decimate communities.
Even if Trump fails to make good on those plans, Trump’s reelection will likely prompt many undocumented immigrants to return to life in the city’s shadows, unwilling to seek help from city officials for health care or protection from the Chicago Police Department for fear of exposing themselves or their families to deportation, immigrant advocates said.
Johnson said he would not allow CPD officers to work with immigration agents because it would make thousands of Chicagoans feel unsafe.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
