Politics
Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois Rideshare Group Aim to Protect Drivers After ‘Unacceptable’ O’Hare Parking Lot Raid
Chicago O’Hare International Airport is pictured in a file photo. (WTTW News)
Mayor Brandon Johnson and a local rideshare organization are taking steps to protect drivers, days after a dozen people were arrested during a federal immigration raid at an O’Hare Airport parking lot.
Johnson and the Illinois Drivers Alliance on Tuesday said they’d be launching “Know Your Rights” trainings for rideshare drivers and their families across the Chicago area, while also working to add signage around the O’Hare rideshare lot prohibiting entry for civil immigration enforcement.
“The harassment and intimidation of rideshare drivers by federal agents at O’Hare is unacceptable and violates the values of our sanctuary city,” Johnson said in a statement. “My administration is working closely with the Illinois Drivers Alliance to ensure drivers are protected, their rights are respected, and that our City property is never used to facilitate unlawful civil immigration enforcement. Chicago’s message is clear: everyone living here deserves safety, dignity, and respect.”
According to the drivers alliance, the trainings aim to ensure drivers and their families understand their constitutional rights and how to exercise them if approached by immigration or law enforcement officials.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security last Friday confirmed 12 people were arrested after Border Patrol agents conducted a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” at an O’Hare parking lot where rideshare drivers typically wait between rides.
The drivers alliance said the presence of federal immigration agents in that space marks a “dangerous escalation that undermines Chicago’s local laws, sows fear among immigrant communities, and threatens the livelihoods of thousands of essential workers who keep our city moving.”
That Friday raid came amid increasing immigration enforcement across Chicago as part of the “Midway Blitz” operation. DHS officials earlier this month said more than 1,000 arrests have been made since that operation launched in early September.
“Chicago is a proud sanctuary city, yet federal agents are creating chaos and fear in communities that simply want to work and provide for their families,” Genie Kastrup, a member of the drivers alliance leadership team, said in a statement. “We are working closely with city leadership to act swiftly to ensure no one is targeted or intimidated while doing their job, and to hold federal agencies accountable to the same laws and constitutional protections that govern us all.”
