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Chicago Mayor signs executive order declaring city-owned properties 'ICE-free zones,' saying "Leave us the freak alone" [View all]
___City property — including parking lots next to Chicago public schools, libraries, parks and city buildings — cannot be used as staging grounds for raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, under an executive order signed Monday aimed at what Mayor Brandon Johnson called President Donald Trump’s “forceful display of tyranny.”
Johnson’s latest executive order prohibits “city-owned and city-controlled parking lots, garages and vacant lots” from being used as “staging areas” or “operations bases for civil immigrant enforcement activities,” including “surveillance or logistical coordination.”
“Our school parking lots are not for ICE to load their weapons,” Johnson said. “They are for Chicagoans who drop their kids off to learn. Our libraries are not for ICE to prepare for raids. They’re for Chicagoans to read and relax. Our parks are not for ICE to set up checkpoints. They are for Chicagoans to play and enjoy.
“This executive order is a step toward accountability. In the coming days and weeks, we may be pushed, if not forced, to take even more dramatic action if this administration continues to escalate and provoke our people.”
“Here’s my message to the immigrant community. It’s the message that I have for all of Chicago: We will use every single tool that is available to us to protect the dignity and the sanctity of our humanity,” Johnson said. “I’m calling on this president to leave us the freak alone.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/06/mayor-brandon-johnson-executive-order-city-owned-properties-ice-free-zones
watch:
Oct 6, 2025
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was signing an executive order Monday aimed at limiting where federal agents can gather in the city, prohibiting them from using certain city-owned spaces for immigration enforcement activities.
The order, which is set to take effect immediately, will prohibit federal immigration authorities from using "city-owned or controlled parking lots, vacant lots, and garages as staging areas, processing locations, or operations bases for civil immigration enforcement activities," it states.
"In recent weeks, federal agents used several City-owned properties—including parking lots near Harrison and Kedzie, and a vacant lot at 46th and Damen—as staging sites for immigration enforcement," the mayor's office said in a release about the order. "Such use of City property undermines community trust and runs counter to Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which ensures that all residents—regardless of immigration status—can live, work, and seek services without fear."
A “staging area” was defined in the order as "any location used to assemble, mobilize, or deploy personnel, vehicles, or equipment for immigration enforcement operations."
"We have a rogue, reckless group of heavily armed, masked individuals roaming throughout our city that are not accountable to the people of Chicago. Their actions put all Chicagoans at risk," Johnson said while announcing the executive order.
Oct 6, 2025
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was signing an executive order Monday aimed at limiting where federal agents can gather in the city, prohibiting them from using certain city-owned spaces for immigration enforcement activities.
The order, which is set to take effect immediately, will prohibit federal immigration authorities from using "city-owned or controlled parking lots, vacant lots, and garages as staging areas, processing locations, or operations bases for civil immigration enforcement activities," it states.
"In recent weeks, federal agents used several City-owned properties—including parking lots near Harrison and Kedzie, and a vacant lot at 46th and Damen—as staging sites for immigration enforcement," the mayor's office said in a release about the order. "Such use of City property undermines community trust and runs counter to Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which ensures that all residents—regardless of immigration status—can live, work, and seek services without fear."
A “staging area” was defined in the order as "any location used to assemble, mobilize, or deploy personnel, vehicles, or equipment for immigration enforcement operations."
"We have a rogue, reckless group of heavily armed, masked individuals roaming throughout our city that are not accountable to the people of Chicago. Their actions put all Chicagoans at risk," Johnson said while announcing the executive order.
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