Mayor Johnson defends executive order aimed at holding ICE accountable for alleged abuses

Mayor Brandon Johnson Tuesday defended his decision to order Chicago police officers to document alleged abuses by federal immigration agents for potential felony prosecution after the county’s top prosecutor questioned his plan’s “legality.”

Johnson said the executive order he outlined last weekend is “not something we thought we would have to do as a local municipality.”

Under normal circumstances, Johnson said the federal government would “hold itself accountable” by investigating agents carrying out the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign.

Outrage boiled over last month when federal agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, just months after Silverio Villegas González was killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer outside Chicago.

“The abnormality of this moment cannot be underscored enough… when you have rogue, reckless behavior of federal agents that actually undermines the work that police officers in our city are doing. That’s really what my larger concern is,” the mayor said during his weekly news conference.

“I wish I did not have to use executive authority to provide protection for the residents of the city of Chicago because the president of the United States of America has declared war on our city.."

Earlier this week, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said she was reviewing the mayor’s order after Johnson “falsely claimed” that her office had backed it.

“Because this order changes the process of how felony charges are evaluated, a thorough analysis is being conducted to assess its legality,” the state’s attorney’s office said in a statement.

Johnson said he plans to use a “30-day rule-making” period to “work through” O’Neill Burke’s concerns.

He noted that O’Neill Burke has “said publicly that she is prepared to prosecute federal agents,” but hasn’t had evidence presented to her office. That’s why he’s trying to create a clearer pathway for accountability.

“People are being killed. Police officers have been harmed by federal agents indiscriminately releasing tear gas,” Johnson said. “The type of terror and chaos that has been evoked by [the Trump] administration is something that has to be checked.”

O’Neill Burke in the hot seat

O’Neill Burke has often let her work speak for itself, insisting her job is to make charging decisions — not conduct criminal investigations. But now, the longtime prosecutor has been thrust into the center of a heated nationwide debate over how to hold federal agents accountable.

On Tuesday, a coalition of City Council members and state elected officials called on O’Neill Burke to investigate the death of Villegas González and the shooting of Marimar Martinez on Chicago’s Southwest Side, and to prosecute “if warranted by evidence.”

“Legal experts and many, many prosecutors have been stepping up to say, actually, state prosecutors are the front line of [the] checks and balances system, constitutional system, that our country was based on, and that we do have a responsibility at the local level,” Rep. Lilian Jiménez D-Chicago told the Sun-Times. 

“While the issue is not cut and dry, it's not simple, there’s procedures in place and prosecutors should start, at minimum, by getting the evidence, by starting those investigations.”

In announcing his executive order, the mayor cited Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who helped launch Fight Against Federal Overreach, or F.A.F.O., a group of prosecutors from across the country who are working together to prosecute federal law enforcement officers who violate state laws.

The group includes the prosecutor’s office covering Minneapolis, where local officials have already launched an independent investigation into Good’s death.

So far, only one off-duty ICE agent has been charged in Cook County. Adam Saracco faces a misdemeanor count of battery for allegedly attacking a protester at a gas station in Brookfield.

Meantime, O’Neill Burke has condemned ICE, saying the agency’s actions have “resulted in unnecessary deaths, broken relationships between law enforcement and our citizens, and an untold amount of terror unleashed on communities.” Still, her office has insisted it “does not conduct independent investigations into criminal conduct.”

Police advocates cry foul

This week, two pro-police members of the City Council accused Johnson of placing cops in an untenable and potentially confrontational situation.

Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st), a former officer, said there’s no question that ICE officers have gone too far in some cases. But he predicted that Johnson’s executive order could trigger a wave of police resignations in Chicago.

“You’re just pitting officers against officers from the city level to the federal level,” Napolitano said. “He’s baiting them into more confrontation with each other.”

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said the order could make the job of being a Chicago police officer “even more difficult.”

At a time when homicides and shootings have dropped precipitously, O’Shea said, “Why would you rock the boat and put more pressure on our police officers by going down this road and playing this card?”

“This is a way for the mayor to deflect from some of the problems we have going on in the city to try to score points,” he said. “But our police officers do not have the ability or the authority to arrest federal agents.”

O'Shea said Johnson's erroneous claim that O’Neill Burke’s office had signed off on the order shows it "wasn’t carefully thought out," nor was it the product of "true collaboration and communication."

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara has branded Johnson’s executive order a “piece of toilet paper.”

The union representing rank-and-file officers “will be exploring the legal jeopardy Brandon Johnson might be placing our members into,” Catanzara said.