Last week, the City Council voted against the amendment to the Welcoming City Ordinance, 39-11. That means, the city will keep its sanctuary city status as is to protect undocumented residents.
Introduced by Alderpersons Raymond López (15th Ward) and Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward), the amendment proposed changes that would allow law enforcement agencies of Chicago, like the Chicago Police Department (CPD), to work with federal immigration agencies if a non-citizen is arrested or convicted of certain crimes.
Crimes such as gang-, drug-, and prostitution-related activities and sexual crimes against minors, according to the proposed amendment.
Ald. López said that the council’s decision will have “very real consequences” for the community, noting that federal immigration agents can already come into the communities.
“The amendment would have limited their intrusions by handing over priority targets when they chose to engage in dangerous criminal behavior,” he said.
However, the lack of pre-emptive response could increase the chance of “collateral captures,” Ald. López said. Meaning, instead of only those who are committing dangerous crimes, all undocumented immigrants could potentially be at risk of being detained by federal immigration agents.
Ald. López previously stated that this amendment would reduce the possibility of deportations in Chicago as President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
In opposition, Alderman Byron Sigcho-López (25th Ward) said that community members and Chicago Police Department officers alike are against the amendment to the ordinance.
“There’s concerns about constitutional challenges in terms of due process, racial profiling and so [on],” Ald. Sigcho-Lopez said.
On Friday, Jan. 17, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Chicago will be the first city targeted in the Trump administration’s plan for mass deportation. About 100 to 200 ICE officers will be deployed across the country.
Since the amendment was shot down in City Council, CPD officers are not required to cooperate with ICE under the Welcoming City Ordinance. However, CPD will not interfere with federal immigrant agents performing their duties, according to WSJ.
Diego Morales, the chair of the 25th Ward for the Independent Political Organization (IPO) said that the City Council’s decision shows the city’s commitment to protect immigrants.
“I think it demonstrates a lot of swift action from the people of the city against this effort,” he said.
Before the City Council’s vote, protesters gathered on Jan, 12., in front of Pilsen’s Plaza Tenochtitlán in response to the proposed amendment.
Demonstrators carried a variety of flags, burned incense to keep warm and set up a platform for speakers to share their messages of hope.
Representatives from various organizations including the People’s March for Justice Coalition, Morena Illinois, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and IPO mobilized the community with their speeches.
“A lot of people are feeling scared,” said Yesenia Puebla, a spokesperson for the PSL, a political party committed to representing workers’ rights standing in opposition to capitalism and imperialism.
PSL contested in the 2024 presidential election, and Puebla says they will continue to do so.
“We’re here to show the community that we’re going to support them, whether it’s from Trump or whether it’s from any City Council member,” said Puebla.
Even when there are ordinances that provide sanctuary for residents, they are under threat by Democratic and Republican politicians, she said.
“We know that we can’t rely on the two-party system,” said Puebla. “We’re trying to create this working-class movement to really fight back, and create a government that really represents the needs of the people of the working class over these billionaires.”
Ald. López previously said that the amendment would have prevented federal agents from roaming around neighborhoods looking for people to detain. But Ald. Sigcho-López said that it is important to protect people’s First Amendment rights so the city can be protected.
“Civil rights are important today more than ever, as Project 2025 is threatening those same rights. So we’re definitely looking at ways to strengthen our sanctuary status,” said Ald. Sigcho-López.
At the federal government level, the House and Senate recently passed the Laken Riley Act.
The act is named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old who was killed on the University of Georgia campus by Jose Antonio Ibarra, an undocumented migrant from Venezuela.
It allows federal agents to take immigrants who have entered unlawfully into custody if they are suspected of crimes like theft over $100. Previously, immigration officials were only allowed to detain undocumented immigrants who committed violent crimes.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had already identified 60,000 undocumented immigrants who would have qualified for detention before the bill was passed, according to reports.
Patty Hernandez, a representative of Morena Illinois, a movement seeking democratic change in Mexico, said that community members are no longer “afraid and fooled.” They are here to support their “migrant brothers” and are “ready for any situation that may arise.”
“We want to have a dignified life with respect and without fear in this country,” said Hernandez. “We also contribute and we are people who pay our taxes.”
Hernandez is a preschool teacher and said that she cannot tolerate the separation of families that took place in 2018 as part of the first Trump administration’s attempts to curtail border crossings.
“They don’t see us as what we are,” said Hernandez. “We are a force, very big for the economy of this country.”
