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This morning, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing “ICE-free zones.”
“That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as grounds for these raids,” Johnson said to applause.
Asked what will happen if federal agents ignore the “ICE-free zone” signs, Johnson responded, “If they are in violation, that’s why we have our Department of Law.”
After multiple questions asking for clarification, Johnson reiterated that if federal agents violate the “ICE-free zones,” his administration will take them to court.
At an afternoon press conference, following Johnson’s, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said officers do not arrest federal agents.
The TRiiBE asked Snelling how they will enforce the mayor’s new executive order. Snelling said he’s only briefly looked at the executive order, as it was just released today. He plans to speak with the Department of Law about the order.
However, Snelling reiterated, “We do not arrest federal agents who are here to do their jobs.”
Johnson also said he’s encouraging private businesses to volunteer to be part of this action.
Johnson began his press conference just before 9:15 a.m. at Westside Justice Center (WJC), a nonprofit legal services and legal education organization dedicated to community justice.
Last week, federal agents placed a Black man in a chokehold right across the street from WJC and, as Johnson said, “caused a car crash.” He also spoke about the ICE raids at a South Shore apartment complex and outside a homeless shelter in Bronzeville.
In his speech, he spoke about federal agents cuffing Ald. Jessie Fuentes and the incident where they shot a woman and tossed tear gas onto neighborhood streets.
“Their actions put all Chicagoans at risk,” Johnson said. “We have a rogue, reckless group of heavily armed mass individuals roaming throughout our city that are not accountable to the people of Chicago.”
Johnson is calling for a full investigation into “all of the brutality” that federal agents have conducted this past week. “We need ICE out of our city,” he said.
During the presser, the Mayor’s Office emailed more details about the “ICE-free Zone” executive order. The email states that city departments and agencies will identify all city-owned spaces that have been or may be used for ICE operations.
A sign will be placed on those spaces with the following message: “This property is owned and/or controlled by the City of Chicago. It may not be used for civil immigration enforcement, including as a: Staging area, Processing location, Operations base.”
The executive order must be implemented within five days.
“The measure directs that City employees immediately report any attempted use of City property for immigration enforcement; any such instance will be reported to the Office of the Mayor and the Corporation Counsel,” the email stated.
Johnson said he also spoke with Gov. JB Pritzker last night. “We will speak to our response later today,” he said.
“The Trump administration must end this war on Chicago,” Johnson continued.
Bright Star Church Pastor Chris Harris also spoke at the press conference. He said ICE is not only going after undocumented immigrants. He said they are arresting African Americans, too. He witnessed it with his own eyes.
“Just a few days ago, in our Bright Star homeless shelter in Bronzeville, the Black metropolis, ICE agents raided our facility without warning,” Harris said. “They came in, they handcuffed, detained, and took four residents. Let me be clear, they were not criminals. They were human beings, trying to survive, trying to heal and trying to find home, shelter. Our shelter is not harboring criminals.”
Harris added that the Trump administration’s goal is to declare martial law.
“This is intimidation. It’s not immigration enforcement,” Harris said. “Don’t give them what they want, Chicago. They want us to get angry enough to lash out. They want to point their cameras and say, ‘see, this city is violent. See, people of color are the problem.’ Don’t give them their footage. Give them the truth. Record what you see, expose injustice, share the videos and let the world see what’s really happening in our shelters, in our neighborhoods and in our streets.”
During his follow-up Q&A with reporters, Johnson said the “right wing in this country wants a rematch of the Civil War.”
The TRiiBE asked why people should feel safe with this new executive order, given that federal agents have ignored his previous order for law enforcement to not wear masks within city limits.
“This is just one action of many, and so I want people to see the entire package of how we are providing support in this,” Johnson said.
Snelling’s afternoon presser began around 1:00 p.m. He recapped Saturday’s incident in which a woman was shot by federal agents.
Snelling said Chicago police officers responded to a shooting in the area of 4000 South Kedzie Avenue. According to the local rapid response team and community members, federal agents crashed into a civilian car and caused a multi-car collision on Kedzie Avenue. Immigration agents fired multiple shots at the car and one person was shot, according to the local raid response team. ICE detained a U.S. citizen who remains in custody and used pepper spray and tear gas, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights and local rapid response team.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) version of events is different.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin initially said federal agents “were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.” She said agents “were unable to move their vehicle and exited the car. She said one of the drivers, who rammed the law enforcement vehicle, was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. She said law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fired defensive shots at an armed U.S. citizen who drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.” Later, in a document stating federal charges against Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ruiz, there was no mention of the woman being armed.
A reporter asked Snelling how CPD will document actions of protestors and that of federal agents in light of complaints of excessive force by federal law enforcement. Snelling said CPD doesn’t document what federal agents do.
“If we make an arrest, if we put hands on someone or we use force as an agency ourselves, we follow our policies,” Snelling explained. He added that the rules of engagement for CPD are more restrictive than federal and state law.
“So when you are looking at what a federal agent is doing, you might be judging that federal agent based on our policies, and you can’t do that,” he continued. “Those things have to be separated. So when a federal agent takes someone into custody the way that they use force, that’s going to be for the federal agency to explain, not CPD.”
Snelling said he is concerned about policing constitutionally and keeping the city safe and stopping those who commit violent acts against others.
At the joint afternoon press conference with Pritzker, a reporter asked Johnson about Snelling’s comments that police do not arrest federal agents.
“The executive orders are about ensuring that we are protecting the people of Chicago and defending our democracy. I’ve given very direct instructions to ensure that all of our sister agencies and our city departments are doing just that, upholding the local ordinances and, again, protecting and defending the rights of every single resident as far as being able to enforce the measures that we put forward,” Johnson said. “We’re going to use every single tool that’s available to us, as I’ve stated before, you just heard the governor express it as well, this battle is going to take place in the courts and in our communities.”
