Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot explained on Sunday night why her city's police department will not help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conduct raids against undocumented migrants.
In a Washington Post op-ed addressed to President Trump, Lightfoot said she ordered the Chicago Police Department not to cooperate with ICE on any activities within the city or allow the department access to police databases. She took these steps "in response to a set of policies from your administration that don't make us safer or stronger as a nation," she said.
Everyone can agree "our current immigration system is broken," and "we must do better — both for our residents and for those who come to our borders. Comprehensive, humane immigration reform can and must be a bipartisan imperative." The Trump administration's "aggressive anti-immigrant posture does not advance these goals," Lightfoot said. "It has caused alarm and longterm haul without moving the needle toward comprehensive reform."
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It's estimated that there are 180,000 undocumented immigrants living in Chicago, and they are all vital to the city, Lightfoot said. "The threats and realities of stepped-up enforcement have not had the deterrent effect you intended, because the people you are targeting are not actually the problem," she said. When they are afraid to leave their homes, it hurts the economy, and the fear can leave lasting scars on children. Lightfoot ends her letter by urging Trump to "find your conscience" and accomplish "what has eluded other presidents — humane, comprehensive immigration reform."
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