On Monday, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) spoke to the Southwest News Herald and answered questions about undocumented deportation raids in Chicago by the Trump administration.
The alderman talked about misidentification of government officials at a public school and the possibility of moving forward with a revised proposed amendment to the Welcoming City ordinance about city cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and more.
Can you comment on the most recent report of Secret Service agents coming to Hamline Elementary School in the Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood?
“Clearly this hysteria level of fear-mongering is reaching epic proportions in the city of Chicago, particularly in immigrant communities like Back-of-the-Yards.”
He was disappointed that the actions of Governor Pritzker, Mayor Johnson, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, local aldermen and the media’s swift reactions caused immigrant communities to feel increased fear on top of existing anxiety about deportation raids, he said.
“The retractions were nowhere near as fast as the accusations. I think all of Chicago owes Back-of-the-Yards an apology. When you have a community that is already at a heightened level of anxiety, to stoke existing fears needlessly and traumatize families is an abdication of moral authority.”
Given your ward has many Republican and Democrat voters, how do you manage constituent expectations on federal deportations?
“I handle the differences in political ideology the same way I handle differences in demographic characteristics. You have to show people where their commonalities are and not try to pit people against each other.
Commonalities in the 15th ward include love of our city, our community, safe neighborhoods and a future for our children, he said.
“My goal is to be true to my value system because people elected me for my values. If you focus on what brings people together, politics is about addition and multiplication. That is how I’ve approached things my entire career and that is how I will continue in the future.”
Will ICE officials communicate any advance notice of deportation raids to city officials?
“No. Your readers should not be surprised that the federal government will not be communicating with this mayor who has blatantly said he does not want to work with federal authorities.”.
Lopez doesn’t think ICE would jeopardize federal law enforcement and staff during high-profile captures of undocumented persons proved to be dangerous given the Johnson administration’s pro-criminal ideologies and practices, he said.
“Clearly you’d want to make sure local law enforcement knows that you have individuals in the community executing warrants or trying to detain people. The last thing the federal government would want is that you have people with guns versus other people who have guns.”
Lopez stated he believes raids to pick up undocumented persons who are criminals by federal ICE officers were mostly on the north and northwest sides on Sunday.
“I’m waiting to see what information ICE produces on social media about yesterday’s arrests and types of crimes yesterday, Jan. 26 in the City of Chicago. They’ve been doing their own pronouncements on X and other social media.”
Have any residents come into the office to comment on your stance on the federal government’s deportation plans?
“There are definitely some individuals who are not happy with the stances we are taking using email, correspondence, phone calls and social media. But overwhelmingly the majority of my residents, regardless of their citizenship status, support what we are saying. They know that our focus is on removing those dangerous threats in our neighborhoods.”
Limiting the number of persons taken by ICE requires being careful about what is said and how it’s being said to avoid frightening people who are not targeted, he said.
“I feel for them. It pains me to know there’s somebody I’ve known for a decade, who is not a citizen, can be taken like that. That’s why we wanted to change the Welcoming City law so we can protect folks like that.
“Sadly, the mayor and his allies chose a very different direction because they have a much different agenda than I or Silvana (Ald. Tabares, 23rd) does. We represent these people. We live with these folks. We care about them. For us it’s not just political posturing just to say we’re fighting against Donald Trump.”
He said he’s attended anti-Trump rallies and doesn’t agree with everything the president does but he agrees with removal of undocumented people who have committed crimes from Chicago to avoid collateral captures.
Governor Pritzker has stated publicly he doesn’t want undocumented persons who have committed violent crimes in his state. Do you think there is a trend toward this thinking by government officials these days?
“That’s 100 percent correct. Everyone is pivoting to the middle. The problem for Alderman Tabares and I is we were there first. Now we are seeing other Democratic leaders, as Donald Trump makes good on his promises to bring the full force and weight of the federal government to bear on cities who refuse to cooperate with him, you see rhetoric change. Governor Pritzker is now saying ‘well, you can have them’ and that rhetoric isn’t matching reality anymore. They also know that people in the city and state overwhelmingly support removing dangerous people from our communities.”
Lopez also notes that the federal government is also going after people who are here who have manipulated asylum over years to gain entry and commit crimes as well.
Do you and Alderman Tabares plan on re-introducing the amendment you proposed allowing the city’s cooperation with ICE roundups of undocumented persons who have been arrested and convicted of crimes?
“The amendment as originally introduced will not be moving forward however Alderman Tabares and I have met with some of our colleagues who support some sort of change and are working to craft a new amendment as we speak. I believe many of our colleagues stated they want to be a part of a broader conversation so we’ve heard what they’ve had to say, hear them loud and clear and I think we’ll be able to incorporate changes that will bring more people to our column and allow us to work with our federal partners in the future.
“We have four years of this presidency, so the sooner we get this wrapped up and amended in a way that makes sense for everyone, the sooner we can make our communities safer as a whole.”
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