Democrat Mayor Admits He’s Coordinating With Other Leaders to Thwart ICE
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he has been in regular contact with other leaders of so‑called sanctuary cities — including Minneapolis’ Jacob Frey and Boston’s Michelle Wu — to coordinate responses aimed at impeding federal immigration-enforcement operations. His comments came after President Trump renewed calls to end sanctuary cities following a series of confrontations in Minneapolis between DHS personnel and anti‑ICE activists that produced two fatal shootings. Johnson described measures his management has taken, including an executive order creating “ICE‑Free Zones” that restrict ICE and Border Patrol use of city property without a judicial warrant, signage and accountability systems, and plans to pursue ways to hold federal officers accountable for alleged misconduct. The piece links the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti to “rapid‑response” networks that monitor and confront ICE operations; Pretti’s shooting is under inquiry and two Border Patrol agents are on administrative leave amid video and witness reports. The article also notes tensions in other cities — Wu’s refusal to cooperate has triggered a DOJ lawsuit, Frey has declined local police cooperation, and Portland has seen violent clashes and attacks on journalists during anti‑ICE protests. Johnson acknowledged prior orders to hamper ICE activities in Chicago, saying the city has faced attacks on federal agents and facilities during recent protests.
Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson admitted Wednesday he was “in regular communication” with other mayors leading so-called “sanctuary cities” in efforts to impede enforcement of federal immigration laws.
President Donald Trump called for an end to “sanctuary cities” in a post on Monday, following a series of shootings, two of them fatal, that took place in Minneapolis involving Department of Homeland Security personnel engaged in immigration enforcement operations. Johnson said during a news conference at the National Press Club that he’d been talking with Democratic Mayors Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Michelle Wu of Boston about how to combat United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“To respond to the operation in Chicago, I leaned heavily on other cities’ responses, like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass d her experience governing while the city was in Trump’s crosshairs,” Johnson said. “We’ve been in regular communication both at the executive level and the staff level with cities like Minneapolis and Portland, Oakland, Boston, and Denver and Baltimore to learn from each other’s experiences and develop strategies to protect our constituents.”
The fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti took place during confrontations connected to “rapid-response” networks seeking to thwart ICE operations. Such groups monitor ICE vehicles, the locations of ICE officers, and summon mobs to confront agents as they try to arrest illegal aliens with criminal records, sometimes resulting in physical altercations, Fox News Digital reported.
The shooting of Pretti, who had a concealed carry permit, is under investigation, with two Border Patrol agents involved in the shooting being placed on administrative leave. Video shot by bystanders appeared to contradict initial statements made by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem regarding the incident, including apparently showing one Border Patrol agent in possession of Pretti’s gun before the shots were fired.
Pretti’s neighbors told the Mirror he was involved with an anti-ICE network. Pretti was injured during a previous confrontation with ICE in the days before his fatal encounter, suffering a broken rib, CNN reported.
In August, Wu refused to back down from a refusal to cooperate with immigration enforcement, prompting a lawsuit from the Department of Justice. Frey declared that Minneapolis police would not cooperate with the federal immigration enforcement operation during an interview with WCCO that aired Dec. 7, then doubled down on that refusal in a series of posts on X after meeting with border czar Tom Homan on Tuesday.
In Portland, anti-ICE rioters attacked conservative journalists covering the violent protests at an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, and reportedly planned to use lasers against aircraft employed by federal law enforcement agencies.
During the event, Johnson also threatened to charge ICE agents after boasting of previous measures he had ordered to impede their operations to arrest illegal immigrants.
“In August, we signed our most sweeping executive order. This executive order established what we call ICE-Free Zones, essentially prohibiting ICE and Border Patrol from staging on city properties and entering city properties without a judicial warrant,” Johnson said. “This had not been done anywhere in the country, so we had to work closely with our law department, our police department, and outside advisors to ultimately build out the infrastructure to produce and distribute ICE-free zone signage and accountability measures.”
“We are working on additional measures that we believe will make Chicago the first city in the country to be able to effectively hold ICE and Border Patrol officers accountable for criminal misconduct,” Johnson added.
In Chicago, ICE agents have had shots fired at them while also being subjected to vehicle ramming attacks. Anti-ICE rioters also targeted an ICE facility in Chicago, with some of the rioters calling for the ICE agents to be arrested or shot in video posted online.
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