I have seen a lot of political grandstanding in my day, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson takes the cake.
After protesters had a standoff with ICE agents just outside of his city this weekend, Johnson poured more gasoline on the fire.
The Chicago mayor has signed an executive order to create “ICE-free zones” that he believes will keep federal agents off city property.
So, the violent escalation that took place over the weekend has been all over the news, but it has not swayed Johnson in his fight against ICE.
Reports on Saturday stated that ICE agents were boxed in, a vehicle was rammed, and an armed would-be attacker was apprehended.
Agents were forced to fire their sidearms defensively, and thankfully, none of them were hurt in the attack.
At least one protester was shot, and there were reportedly more than a dozen arrests made following the incident.
Rather than defending the federal agents, Johnson decided to fan the flames, stating, "Today, we are signing an executive order aimed at reining in this out-of-control administration.”
He continued, "The order establishes ICE-free zones. That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids."
Johnson later added, "The Trump administration must end the war on Chicago. The Trump administration must end this war against Americans. The Trump administration must end its attempt to dismantle our democracy."
The mayor is grasping at straws, trying to make this all about race, even going so far as to say conservatives did not accept the results of the Civil War, which is just ludicrous. He even stated, "The right wing in this country wants a rematch of the Civil War.” As I have noted, this is the stuff on which Dems thrive… chaos and anger, and this is race-baiting the likes I have never seen before.
This is a bit out of my purview, so I am going to lean on comments made by former ICE Director Jonathan Fahey, who led the agency during the waning days of the first Trump administration.
He explained, “Normally, cities would welcome federal help that have crime problems, and you see D.C. Mayor Bowser, after initial reluctance, has actually welcomed it and the city is better off, I think, objectively. But Brandon Johnson’s new executive order is pretty amazing on a couple of fronts, because it violates two federal laws: One, the alien harboring law, which has anything to shield illegal aliens from detection, and he specifically says that’s the purpose of it. It’s also a violation of federal obstruction, because it’s to impede federal agents.”
Fahey then stated, “So the big, fun irony of his executive order is that it violates federal law, and it’s also unenforceable on its terms under the supremacy clause. So, another stunt, but I don’t even think he recognizes really what the repercussions would be if it was actually played out.”
So, we knew this was a political stunt on the part of Johnson, and his police chief already stated that city cops would not be arresting any federal agents simply because the mayor declared their actions illegal. I am not sure if DHS Secretary Kristi Noem wants to test Fahey’s theory, but I can tell you that I would surely be pushing the envelope on this. Force Democrats to defend criminals over the American people, as that is a message that worked wonders for the GOP in 2024, and Republicans are going to need that same message to hit home in 2026 if they want to hold the House.
