Chicago’s Leaders Stand Up for the City — and Against ICE

For almost a decade, President Donald Trump has campaigned on cracking down on the “flood” of immigrants, drugs and crime he says are inundating America’s borders.

Trump has invoked arcane laws to push his agenda, from the 1798 Alien Enemies Act — passed to defend the country from a monarchist invasion — to an obscure section of the McCarthy-era Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the Secretary of State to deport permanent residents for “foreign policy consequences.”

Since Inauguration Day, immigration enforcement acts have hit Chicagoans hard. But leaders at the city and state levels haven’t taken it lying down, instead pushing back against Trump’s harmful rhetoric and the persecution of Chicago’s immigrant communities.

Due to his disagreements with Illinois’ and Chicago’s Democratic administrations, Trump has made it clear the city and its immigrant community are on his list of targets.

Trump’s appointed “border czar,” Tom Homan, speaking to a gathering of North Side Republicans Dec. 9, announced Chicago would be one of the administration’s first targets because “your mayor sucks and your governor sucks,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

True to form, less than a week into the new administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed the start of “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago, according to a Jan. 26 statement. The ICE operation, named “Operation Safeguard,” was slated to begin in Chicago before spreading to other major cities as part of the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

Even in the face of federal threats, Illinois’ leaders have pledged to uphold existing laws protecting immigrants and not cooperate with federal deportation efforts. Governor J.B. Pritzker made strong statements denouncing the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, saying the issue isn’t just about immigration, but protecting Illinois residents, according to WTTW.

Trump boasted his administration would root out “illegal immigrant killers, rapists, and drug dealers” from Chicago and a slew of other places — including Los Angeles, New York City and St. Paul, Minn. — in a Feb. 25 White House statement.

Despite the Trump administration trying to link immigration enforcement to crime, there’s little evidence connecting immigrants, legal or otherwise, to criminality. In fact, the data points toward the exact opposite, and any link is “mythical,” according to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. As a group, immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born citizens.

Pritzker endorsed the longstanding policy of deportation for non-citizens who are convicted of violent crimes but underlined the state’s “obligation” to protect the vast majority of immigrants with no criminal allegations.

“You come for my people, you come through me,” Pritzker said.

But the facts haven’t stopped Trump’s rhetoric. The president told rally-goers June 29 immigrants are coming to the U.S. “from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums,” according to NPR.

In an attempt to make good on deportation promises, Trump’s Chicago immigration raids brought together task forces from all parts of federal law enforcement.

These included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and even reality TV host and Trump cheerleader Dr. Phil.

Even with this show of force, ICE was only able to scrape together seven criminal warrants for the Chicago raid, according to Bloomberg. Despite only having seven criminal warrants, ICE arrested 260 people in Chicago and 956 nationwide.

But it’s not just criminals — and hardly any “ruthless terrorist gang members,” as the White House claimed Mar. 17 — being arrested in immigration raids.

Instead, it’s tourists from nations like The United Kingdom and Germany, international students with permanent status and refugees with the gall to have multiple tattoos and no criminal record. Of those arrested in the Chicago raids, at least 22 are now suing the federal government for violating their constitutional rights and Illinois immigration law, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Abel Orozco-Ortega, a local business owner with no criminal record who has lived in the U.S. since the 1990s, was arrested by ICE Jan. 26 even though eligible for a green card, according to CBS2 Chicago.

Another man, Julio Noriega, was arrested while buying pizza in Berwyn — despite being a lifelong U.S. citizen.

These arrests raise issues of constitutionality, but they also may violate a 2022 agreement regulating ICE’s ability to make collateral arrests without judicial warrants during immigration enforcement actions, according to the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Even with the rash of wrongful arrests and alleged misconduct, immigration enforcement is still happening too slowly for Trump. Following the Chicago raids, Trump instructed ICE to set a new daily arrest quota of at least 1,200, all but ensuring the arrests of more innocent people.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, along with the mayors of other major U.S. cities, traveled to Washington, D.C. March 5 to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Chicago’s sanctuary city policies.

The hearing lasted for six hours, but despite the best efforts of Republican committee members who attacked the mayor for his commitment to Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance — which has been in place since 1985 — Johnson skillfully avoided verbal traps and defended city policy.

Backed by Illinois congressional Representatives Robin Kelly, Delia Ramirez, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky — who represents the district of Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus — Johnson echoed Pritzker’s defiance to the Trump administration and made a strong case for Illinois’ continued commitment to immigrant-friendly policies.

Thanks to Illinois’ and Chicago’s elected officials, most of all Johnson and Pritzker, Chicago promises to stay strong in the face of Trump’s increasing federal authoritarianism. As long as their commitment stays strong, Chicago will continue to be — as Johnson puts it — “the greatest freakin’ city in the world.”