Johnson pressured to cooperate with Trump's mass deportation of criminals

Mayor Brandon Johnson has declared emphatically and repeatedly he will not allow Chicago police officers to cooperate with President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportations, starting with those with criminal records.

But the mayor may not have the final word if two Hispanic alderpersons who are among Johnson’s most outspoken critics get their way at next week's City Council meeting.

Southwest Side colleagues Ray Lopez (15th) and Silvana Tabares (23rd) plan to use a parliamentary maneuver to revive a stalled ordinance that would restore so-called “carve-outs” to Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance eliminated during former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration.

A simple majority — 26 votes — would be needed to force an immediate vote on the ordinance at next Wednesday's session. The ordinance has been stuck in the Rules Committee since September 2023.

If they have the votes, Chicago police officers would be “allowed to work with federal immigration officers or agencies” whenever they encounter people who have been arrested for:

• Gang-related activities including, but not limited to loitering, intimidation and recruitment

• Drug-related activities including, but not limited to, purchasing, selling, distribution of any substance considered to be an illegal drug by the Food and Drug Administration

• Prostitution-related activities including, but not limited to solicitation, performance, human trafficking of adults

• Sexual crimes involving minors

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has warned Johnson to “come to the table or get out of the way” of mass deportations where Chicago will be “ground zero.”

But after meeting with Homan, Lopez said he’s convinced an ugly confrontation can and should be avoided.

“We will, in essence, be taking the target off the backs of those law-abiding immigrants and undocumented individuals who are simply waiting for a path to legalize their status by giving the Trump administration what they want,” he said.

By refusing to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Johnson is “endangering the lives of tens of thousands” of undocumented and otherwise law-abiding Chicagoans, Lopez said.

“He is drawing a line in the sand that is gonna force immigration officials to come into our neighborhoods looking for criminals. And when they do, they’re gonna take law-abiding undocumented people as collateral damage. I don’t want to see that,” he said.

"Undocumented immigrants who come here to join gangs and engage in illegal behavior are not here for the American dream. They’re here to create a nightmare for residents," Tabares said. “Any alderman opposed to this ordinance is protecting individuals who are here illegally and participating in some of the worst criminal behavior imaginable.”

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) led a six-year campaign by immigrant rights advocates that ultimately persuaded Lightfoot to honor her campaign promise to eliminate the carve-outs, which had allowed police to cooperate with immigration officers in some cases.

Ramirez-Rosa argued Thursday it would deny due process rights to help the feds round up people who've been arrested, but not convicted. It would also make the city “less safe” by discouraging Chicago’s 200,000 undocumented immigrants from cooperating with police, he said.

“If people are afraid to call 911 because they think a local police officer will turn them over to ICE, they are less likely to call 911 in an emergency,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

Homan has “billions of dollars and thousands of agents” at his disposal who can “do the work to get a warrant, then go out and knock on somebody’s door,” Ramirez-Rosa said. “They don’t need to be using our cash-strapped city’s dollars to do Trump’s dirty work."

Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Right, shares Ramirez-Rosa’s concern.

“I’m not trying to advocate for [criminals] or say there shouldn’t be any accountability. But due process is important. People should have their day in court and be able to appear before a judge,” Benito said. “In this situation, you’re asking local police to be federal agents, judge and jury. That’s a dangerous precedent.”