Brandon Johnson, the newly elected mayor of Chicago, has vowed to continue the city’s immigration “sanctuary city” status after his predecessor decried moves to send more immigrants to the city.
On Tuesday, Johnson, a Cook County Commissioner, won the Chicago mayoral race on a progressive platform. Among Johnson’s policy goals are to extend Chicago’s “sanctuary city” policies.
“Chicago must lead with and live by the promise to be a sanctuary city and welcome immigrants and refugees, and treat them with dignity and respect,” his campaign website reads. “This sanctuary promise must extend to everyone who needs it in our city, and residents both old and new. Our public schools must be sanctuaries for all children by investing in dual language programs, ethnic studies, and English as a Second Language (ESL).”
Chicago has been a self-described “sanctuary city” for decades, explicitly adopting policies that bar local and state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Johnson said his plans to extend Chicago’s “sanctuary city” policies include rental assistance or semi-permanent housing, increased “dedicated funding to immigrant protection and integration, including the Immigrant Legal Protection Fund,” and new efforts to ensure that law enforcement “does not cooperate with ICE to arrest, detain, or deport our migrant neighbors.”
Johnson’s predecessor, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, also avowed support for Chicago’s “sanctuary city” status; however, her office decried recent efforts of states that sent loads of migrants on buses to Chicago and other self-styled “sanctuary cities” as a “racist practice.”
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending busloads of migrants to Chicago in September.
“As a city, we are doing everything we can to ensure these immigrants and their families receive shelter, food, and most importantly, protection,” Deputy Director of Communications Ryan Johnson said in a statement. “This is not new; Chicago welcomes hundreds of migrants every year to our city and provides much-needed assistance. Unfortunately, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is without any shame or humanity. But ever since he put these racist practices of expulsion in place, we have been working with our community partners to ready the city to receive these individuals.”
Days later, Chicago began sending those migrants to neighboring communities like Burr Ridge. In turn, Republican Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso said, “It is hypocrisy by the mayor of Chicago to complain about the governor of Texas.”
“I do agree with what [Abbott’s] doing—the city of Chicago says it’s going to be a sanctuary city which I oppose—but there must be vacant hotel rooms in Chicago,” Grasso said in an interview with Fox News at the time. “This is hundreds of people in a city of millions. Why are they sending them out to the Republican suburbs? You have to wonder.”
By January, Democrat Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined the migrant busing practice, sending migrants to Chicago and New York City. Lightfoot responded by sending Polis a letter demanding he ceases the practice.
It remains to be seen how Johnson will respond to similar migrant busing practices during his tenure as mayor.
NTD News reached out to Johnson’s campaign for comment on the migrant busing issue but did not receive a response before this article was published.
In a January tweet, Johnson said, “Human lives aren’t political footballs.”
“We must collaborate with the state + federal government to provide support for migrant families seeking safety—without pitting ourselves against each other. We can absolutely fortify existing Chicago communities while welcoming migrants,” the January tweet continued.
Johnson’s Other Policies
In addition to extending Chicago’s “sanctuary city” status, Johnson’s campaign website lists objectives like establishing a Chicago Board of Education Non-Citizen Advisory Board comprised of parents of migrants to ensure those families “have a voice in their children’s education.” He has also described a plan to allow noncitizens to vote in school board elections.
Johnson’s policies also include expanding affordable housing and public transit programs in Chicago and “environmental justice” issues like “decarbonization” and the “municipalization of electric power in Chicago.”
Johnson said he wants to “make [the Chicago Police Department] more efficient, train and promote 200 new detectives from the existing rank and file, improve transit safety, and get illegal guns off our streets.” Johnson said he believes the city can curb its violent crime and carjacking rates by expanding mental health, addiction care, and housing programs for the homeless. He also increased police accountability to “dismantle systemic racism, strongly enforce long-needed police accountability reforms, and evaluate department goals and performance.”
