Mayor stands up for vulnerable Chicagoans.
Chicago needs to be a place where immigrants go about their daily lives without fearing harassment by police.
At his 45- minute meeting Wednesday with Presidentelect Donald Trump, Mayor Rahm Emanuel kept some of Chicago’s most vulnerable residents in mind: He delivered a letter from 14 big- city mayors urging Trump to protect “Dreamers,” young people brought to this country as children, and he made clear the value of Chicago remaining a sanctuary city.
Today, Dreamers are protected from deportation by President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. It’s important that Trump — who campaigned against immigration and has pledged to deport millions of people — understand the fundamental fairness of this program. To qualify for DACA, young immigrants must pass background checks to show they pose no threat. DACA applicants must renew every two years and can lose their protection if they commit a crime. Many Dreamers have known no other home than America.
Keeping Chicago a sanctuary city — a place where undocumented immigrants will not be prosecuted solely because of their immigration status — is critical, too. Chicago needs to be a place where immigrants go about their daily lives without fearing harassment by police.
“[ Trump] heard my passion about people pursuing the American dream,” Emanuel said after the meeting at the Trump Tower in Manhattan. “He heard my personal passion. I told him about my [ immigrant] grandfather — what it means for cities with immigrants who struggle and sacrifice for their children to have a shot at the American dream. A sanctuary city means that people are welcome and they’re supported in that effort.”
At the same time Emanuel was in New York, Sen. Dick Durbin, D- Ill., was working with a bipartisan group of senators, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S. C., to draw up legislation protecting Dreamers. The bill could be introduced before Congress adjourns at the end of this week but most likely won’t be until January, a Durbin spokeswoman said.
But even if such a bill makes it through Congress, it will go nowhere without Trump’s support.
During their “frank and honest discussion,” Emanuel said, he also discussed other issues important to the city, including transportation, education, police training, mentoring and anti- gun- violence initiatives. Those all are issues on which Trump needs to focus his attention, instead of the caricature of Chicago as a “worn- torn” city that he portrayed during the election.
In his session with Trump, Emanuel thoughtfully outlined the issues that are important to Chicago. Let’s hope Trump listened.