Panel OKs plan to close gaps in city’s welcome ordinance
Chicago police would soon be prohibited from working with federal immigration authorities under a plan introduced by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Lightfoot’s plan to close loopholes in the city’s Welcoming City Ordinance that allow police to cooperate in some cases with federal immigration agents moved one step closer to completion on Tuesday as aldermen on the City Council’s new committee on immigrant rights advanced the mayor’s proposal.
The full City Council still needs to approve the measure.
The mayor’s proposed ordinance would no longer let Chicago police cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents if arrestees’ names are in Chicago’s gang database, if they have charges or convictions in their background or if they have criminal warrants.
It also would prohibit city agencies from detaining people solely because they might be in the U.S. without legal permission, and transferring anyone to ICE custody for immigration enforcement.
Police would be barred from setting up traffic perimeters to aid ICE immigration actions, and police supervisors would be required to sign off on any requests for assistance from ICE. If the supervisor determined the agency wanted help enforcing civil immigration laws, the supervisor “shall decline the request,” according to the proposal.
Several members of the City Council praised Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, who has worked with community groups for years to close the Welcoming City Ordinance’s loopholes.
Ramirez-Rosa noted that the committee voted to remove the carve-outs on President Donald Trump’s last full day in office.
“Let’s turn the page on Trump and Trumpism today,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd, echoed Ramirez-Rosa and said the measure is a “long time coming.”
“We will finally make Chicago a true sanctuary city,” Rodriguez Sanchez said.