Chicago mayor calls for local government ‘process’ to prosecute feds

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Chicago officials are digging in against federal immigration law enforcement.

City council committees on police and fire and immigrant and refugee rights held a joint meeting on Tuesday afternoon and approved an amendment allowing the Civilian Office of Police Accountability to investigate complaints of police officers violating the city’s welcoming city ordinance.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office championed the proposal that was introduced by Alderperson Jessie Fuentes.

“It is not enough to be a welcoming city on paper. We must enforce our local laws so that we can maintain the trust that we have built between law enforcement and immigrant communities throughout Chicago,” Johnson said.

During the public comment period, several speakers demanded accountability from police and cited examples they said demonstrated cooperation between officers and federal immigration agents.

“Chicago police should not be protecting ICE,” said community organizer Esther Martinez.

The Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights provided a video of police officers advising federal immigration law enforcement officers about transporting detainees.

Alderman Nicholas Sposato indicated he would support the amendment, but he challenged Deputy Mayor Beatriz Ponce de León about the killing of Americans by people who are in the country illegally.

Sposato’s comments sparked an exchange with de León objecting to the word “illegal,” Sposato saying he didn’t use the term and Alderman Andre Vasquez interjecting to continue the meeting.

Several aldermen expressed concerns that no high-ranking member of the Chicago Police Department was at the meeting, but Fuentes said the amendment had the support of police superintendent Larry Snelling.

The measure passed and could be considered at the next full council meeting on Feb. 18.

Johnson thanked Chicagoans who protested last weekend against what he said was the unjust killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

“Nurse Pretti, who was born right here in Illinois, was engaging in the time-honored and sanctified American tradition of protesting unjust actions by an overbearing federal government,” Johnson said.

Pretti was born in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge.

Johnson was asked if his office was coordinating protests and violence against federal law enforcement.

“To not protest in this moment would be a derelict of duty, particularly at a time when we see the rise of tyranny and fascism that threatens the sensibility of our humanity,” Johnson said.

The mayor said federal agents are being directed by the Trump administration to shoot and kill.

“After what we have seen in the streets of this country, we have to seriously look at how local government can ultimately not just bring charges and investigation against the federal overreach, but how we can create a process that allows for prosecution of these individuals,” Johnson said.

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