A Democrat in Chicago is leading the effort to deport criminals as the sanctuary city faces growing troubles caring for thousands of illegal immigrants arriving from the southern border.
"This is a moment to restore some sanity and common sense," Alderman Raymond Lopez, a Democrat, said during a recent phone call with the Washington Examiner. "The Left, the progressives, the socialists act as though everything is just an academic exercise in good government. They don't realize or appreciate the real-world implications of what they do. Well, the real world has come home to the city of Chicago and the border crisis is in our backyard."
Lopez, a lifelong Chicagoan, is not the only Democrat who is fed up with the city's response to 15,000 homeless immigrants who have been dropped into the city over the past year following the federal government's release of 2 million people from the border.
Lopez is leading a Democratic revolt to bring Immigration and Customs Enforcement back to Chicago, in hopes it will send a message that egregious crimes committed by new and old arrivals will not be tolerated. It's a rare fight that will pit Democrats against Democrats.
"There are certain things that we absolutely do not find acceptable, and that is the purpose of the amendment," Lopez said. "When you have individuals who are coming here ... only for evil purposes, to be perfectly honest, we shouldn't protect them. We shouldn't harbor them. We shouldn't be a refuge or sanctuary for them."
At the City Council's meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 13, Lopez will debut an ordinance that would allow city police to turn over to federal immigration authorities a much broader range of illegal immigrants, rather than releasing them back into the community.
At present, Chicago policy does not allow local police to turn someone in custody over to ICE even if the individual has an outstanding criminal warrant, a felony conviction, or is identified as a known gang member.
Lopez's ordinance would allow the city's officers to turn over illegal immigrants to ICE if the person in custody has been arrested or convicted of gang-related crimes, drug-related crimes, prostitution-related crimes, or crimes involving minors.
The ordinance has 20 co-sponsors so far, nearly half of the council's 50 members. Nineteen of the co-sponsors are Democrats. The council's sole Republican member is also a co-sponsor. Only a majority, 26 votes, are needed to pass it.
Attention Chicagoans: Email your Council Members calling for support of this ordinance at [email protected]. Please contact the Chicago City Council Sergeant-at-Arms at 312-744-6800 for details to attend the next council meeting.
“We’ve got more migrants in police stations than officers with more coming, and the city has handcuffed itself when it comes to combating crime,” Tabares said.
Behind the Democrat curtain at Chicago O'Hare airport. Hundreds of migrants living in filthy conditions. This is what progressive politics look like. This is what happens when you give idiots like Lori Lightfoot and Eric Adams a teaspoon of power.
MUST WATCH! Egg Harbor Township Mayor Laura Pfrommer OUTRAGED 60,000 Illegals to be housed at airport - town population 50,000. Then it will cost $20,000 per kid to educate them.
At the massive Chicago O'Hare International Airport outside the city, one area has been transformed into a shelter for immigrants.
“Every week I receive calls asking us to do something about their behavior: The drinking, loitering, drug use, outdoor sex acts,” Lopez said in a written statement shared with the Washington Examiner provided after the interview. “Unfortunately, as the law is written now, all we can do is issue an [administration notice of violation or citation] or hold them in the police district.”
