CHICAGO – More than a week before Mayor Brandon Johnson is expected testify on Capitol Hill before the House Oversight Committee on the city’s so-called sanctuary laws, Johnson told reporters that he is prepared to defend the city’s “values.”
“We are going to hold to our values. And whether or not we can get that message across in that particular room. Doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop,” Johnson told reporters during a Tuesday morning news conference.
It will likely be a contentious hearing.
In his letter to Johnson and mayors of other sanctuary cities several weeks ago, House Oversight Committee chairman Jamie Comer, R- Kentucky, wrote that “sanctuary jurisdictions and their misguided and obstructionist policies hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities, making Americans less safe. Chicago is a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.”
Chicago and Illinois both have laws on the books that limit the circumstances in which law enforcement is permitted to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement actions. Chicago has laws on the books that pledge not to deny city services to individuals based on immigration status.
Comer's letter came days before the Trump administration’s Department of Justice sued the state of Illinois and Chicago seeking to invalidate their sanctuary laws and ordinances – including the Welcoming Act and the Trust Act – which the lawsuit alleges “… have the purpose and effect of making it more difficult for, and deliberately impeding, federal immigration officers’ ability to carry out their responsibilities in those jurisdictions. These provisions intentionally obstruct the sharing of information envisioned by Congress…”
In late January, days after the Trump administration took office, Border Czar Tom Homan took part in a well-publicized series of immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago and later New York and Denver.
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While the Trump administration’s lawsuit and Comer’s letter have referenced seeking to remove “dangerous criminals” – data as of February 9th shows that 54.7 percent of those ICE detainees have no criminal record, according to the TRAC website which monitors federal courts and immigration data is maintained by researchers at Syracuse University.
When asked by NBC 5 Investigates’ Bennett Haeberle about the potential criticism he could face on Capitol Hill and what his “counter punch” might be?
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“To our values?... I get your question. That’s not a counter punch. That’s just who we are. We are city who was established by a Black Haitian immigrant. That is the punch. We are responding to individuals who don’t share our values," he said.
When questioned further by another reporter about who has he sought advice from, he said “Jesus,” before adding that he has texted in recent days with former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan among other Illinois Congressmen.
Since August of 2022, more than 52,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago. At the height of the migrant crisis Chicago was operating 27 shelters.
More than $400 million went to one company – Favorite Healthcare Staffing – which staffed the shelters.
All told Chicago taxpayers - along with federal funds - have shouldered the total cost of more than $638 million.
