Chicago is a sick city
In certain circles, Chicago used to be referred to as Fat City. The origin of the term was the city's reputation as a place where an enterprising individual could live off the fat of the lamb as it were, either by legitimate or other means.
Well, there's not much fat on the bone anymore, less and less in fact as time goes on.
Today’s Chicago might better be called Sick City. It’s sick economically, politically, and morally to the extent that it has perverted the ancient religious concept of granting sanctuary into becoming a haven for vicious gun criminals.
Some brave, intrepid souls are trying to cure our sick city of what ails it. In January, a proposal to amend Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance was introduced by Aldermen Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) and Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward).
What was remarkable about the amendment to the ordinance is the demographics of the two lawmakers who introduced the measure. Contrary to Democrats’ stereotyping, the brave Council members who introduced the measure were not only people of color but of Hispanic descent. This may seem counterintuitive to outsiders, but the reality is the carnage inflicted by gun criminals here illegally falls primarily upon the hapless residents of these wards. It’s easy for lakefront liberals to wag their fingers at the unwashed, unwoke denizens of the inner city, but they’re not the ones getting their exquisitely coifed heads blown off, now are they?
The proposed amendment sought to empower Chicago police officers to cooperate with federal immigration authorities (including ICE) in cases involving individuals arrested for a limited number of specific offenses, including gang, drug, and prostitution-related activities as well as sexual crimes involving minors.
This proposal faced significant opposition from various quarters:
· Community Organizations and Activists: A coalition of community groups, activists, and legal experts voiced strong opposition to the proposed changes. They argued that such amendments would erode trust between immigrant communities and local authorities, potentially leading to increased fear and reluctance among undocumented residents to report crimes or seek assistance. Concerns were also raised about possible violations of due process and the risk of racial profiling.
Shatter the trust between the authorities and the community? What trust? There’s not much at risk there.
Racial profiling? Seriously? Open your eyes and take a look at the co-sponsors of the proposal. Do they look like racial profilers?
· Legal Concerns: Critics highlighted the proposed amendments could conflict with existing state laws, such as the Illinois Trust Act and the Illinois Way Forward Act, which explicitly prohibit local law enforcement from assisting in federal immigration enforcement without a federal criminal warrant. There were also concerns about potential violations of constitutional rights, particularly regarding due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments.
If the state law is an issue, change it or dare Governor JB Pritzker to sue the city for casting out gun criminals. Fear of litigation was the genesis of Lightfoot’s ludicrous “no chase” policy that made a mockery out of law enforcement.
· Chicago Police Department (CPD): Superintendent of Police Larry Snelling expressed reservations about the proposed changes, citing concerns over compliance with state laws and the potential for undermining community trust. The CPD’s current policies, under the Welcoming City Ordinance, prohibit officers from participating in civil immigration enforcement activities, a stance aimed at fostering cooperation and trust within Chicago’s diverse communities.
Sadly, the police chief is on the wrong side of this issue, but he may just be doing the bidding of the mayor, the notorious Stacy Davis Gates…excuse me, Brandon Johnson.
In response to these concerns, the Chicago City Council voted on January 15, to reject the proposed amendments, with a decisive 39-11 vote. This decision reaffirmed Chicago’s commitment to its sanctuary city status, ensuring local law enforcement remains separate from federal immigration enforcement activities.
So here we are. In defiance of national trends, Chicago is actively aiding and abetting gun criminals and other serial felons. In effect, the city has allied itself with the vicious street gangs that prey upon law-abiding citizens.
This policy folly compounds the error of the sanctuary city statute in pushing the city closer to bankruptcy by spending hundreds of millions of dollars to feed, clothe, and shelter its more than fair share of asylum seekers and other “newcomers” who poured through the floodgates opened at the border by Joe Biden.
Those who argue we are "a nation of immigrants" fail to address the cold hard reality that when most of our ancestors came to America they were not greeted with free food and shelter. They were simply left to fend for themselves, and so they did, most of them quite successfully. But they did not impose a burden on the public purse disproportionate to the economic value they added.
The last thing we need to import into Chicago is criminals. Tragically, we are missing a golden opportunity to have the federal government export, at no cost to us, some of them who have no business being here in the first place to Gitmo or other parts south of the border, back where they came from, back where they belong.
It’s just another of myriad signs that our municipal government lacks even a modicum of common sense. It wastes its time and energy on internecine warfare over virtue signaling while vice reigns. It’s time to replace the culture warriors that have occupied the City Council, and the Man on 5 with sensible public leaders that truly represent the will of the people of Chicago.
