By Illinois Review
At a Tuesday morning press conference at Chicago City Hall, Mayor Brandon Johnson — whose approval rating hovers around six percent — reiterated that local law enforcement would not “cooperate with ICE.”
“Our local police department will not ever cooperate with ICE – whatever their constitutional authority is,” said Johnson.
In April, Mayor Brandon Johnson referred to President Donald Trump as a “terrorist” after Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities, which knowingly harbor undocumented migrants – including those with violent or dangerous criminal histories.
“We’re not going to negotiate with terrorists.”
Just days after taking office in January, President Trump authorized federal law enforcement agencies to conduct “targeted operations” in Chicago to root out and arrest dangerous migrants who were in the U.S. illegally and taking advantage of the city’s “sanctuary city” status.
President Trump’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan and then-Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove were also spotted in Chicago in January for the operations – as well as television personality and psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw – who was documenting the raids as an outside observer.
During a brief break during the raids, McGraw posted a video of ICE agents arresting a “convicted sex offender and internet predator from Thailand” in Chicago – proving once again that the objective of this operation was to go after the bad guys.
In addition to the migrant crisis, Chicago’s crime rates remain high, and in 2023, the city maintained its status as America’s “murder capital.”
Over the July 4th holiday weekend, 44 people were shot in 32 separate shootings across the city. Seven were reported dead.
In 2024, 86 were shot and 19 killed.
It’s estimated that over 25,000 migrants arrived in Chicago last year, costing taxpayers more than $400 million.
