The White House on Monday ripped Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for signing an executive order blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from city property.
“Today, in a disgusting betrayal of every law-abiding citizen, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared city spaces as ‘ICE-free zones,'” the White House said in a statement.
“Johnson’s pathetic excuse that enforcing our nation’s immigration laws somehow ‘undermines community trust’ exposes his true loyalty: to criminal illegal alien predators, not the terrified families of Chicago.
“Shielding the most depraved, violent criminal illegal aliens from justice is not only an insult to every Chicagoan, it’s also a dangerous intensification of Democrats’ lunatic ‘sanctuary’ agenda where criminal illegals come before American citizens,” the statement added.
The White House highlighted eight arrests by ICE in Chicago in recent days, including that of Stefan Cseve, an Austrian with convictions for sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, child sex offender loitering, violation of the sex offender registry, and numerous “sexual predator in a public park” offenses.
Johnson, a Democrat, on Monday signed an executive order prohibiting federal immigration agents from using city-owned property for ICE operations.
The “ICE-free zones” are part of his Protecting Chicago Initiative, whose aim is to “promote the well-being of our communities and to safeguard the rights of all Chicagoans in response to threats arising from federal actions and inactions.”
Johnson said in a press release: “We will not tolerate ICE agents violating our residents’ constitutional rights nor will we allow the federal government to disregard our local authority. ICE agents are detaining elected officials, tear-gassing protestors, children, and Chicago police officers, and abusing Chicago residents. We will not stand for that in our city.
“With this Executive Order, Chicago stands firm in protecting the Constitutional rights of our residents and immigrant communities and upholding our democracy.”
The move comes after Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, also a Democrat, filed a lawsuit attempting to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Illinois.
On Sunday, the governor said he refused to comply with the Trump administration’s “ultimatum” to deploy the troops, calling it “absolutely outrageous and un-American.”
“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s invasion,” Pritzker said.
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