ICYMI: Mayor Brandon Johnson Slams Trump Administration For Corruption, Unnecessary Provocation In “War On The Poor”

CHICAGO - In response to confirmed reportsof heavily armed immigration enforcement in downtown Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson stood with Governor JB Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul alongside community, business, labor, and civic leaders at a press conference responding to the unnecessary provocation. Mayor Johnson called out the Trump administration's corruption and profiteering of private prison corporations who are benefiting from the detention of undocumented residents.

"I've spoken with parents in Pilsen and Little Village, business owners on Devon, elders in Uptown, who are too scared to take their children to school, are losing business, and are too afraid to attend church because-even those with legal status-are afraid of the reckless actions they have seen online," said Mayor Brandon Johnsonduring his remarks. "It is not 'tough' or 'patriotic' to throw a crying mother to the floor who just wanted to be reunited with her children. It's not 'law and order' to body slam a 79-year-old business owner, an American citizen, for trying to produce the papers of his employees. So again, I say, this is not about public safety. This is not even about immigration. This is a continuation of the Trump administration's war on the poor."

Video of Mayor Johnson's full remarks is available here.

Photos from the press conference are available here.

During their patrol, federal immigration officers targeted street vendors and construction workers and chased a delivery workerafter he exercised his First Amendment right to criticize the government. During one arrest, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents even made a young girl act as a translatorwhile they took her family into custody.

Yesterday's show of force comes as federal detentions of individuals with no criminal record have increased 488% under the Trump administration.72% of those currently held in detention have no criminal record, according to federal government data.

Individuals with no criminal record are now the largest groupin federal immigration detention. Of those with a criminal record, many are for minor traffic violations and other misdemeanors.

Meanwhile, more than 90% of immigration detention centersare run by private, for-profit corporations. The Trump administration has already engaged in no-bid contracts with private prison contractors across the United States. The two largest private prison corporations gave Trump at least $2.8 million for his reelection campaign. Both have since received multi-million dollar federal contracts through the "One Big Beautiful Bill" Actto increase capacity for detentions.

This all comes on the heels of revelationsthat Tom Homan, Trump's so-called "border czar," accepted a $50,000 bribe from undercover FBI agents in exchange for lucrative detention center contracts. The Department of Justice has since moved to shutter the probe investigating Homan's conduct.

Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson called for the appointment of an independent investigator to review every contract in the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois, related to any ICE detention centers to ensure there has not been any instance of corruption or bribery tied to ICE's operations in Chicago.

"This is the agency that Trump and Republicans just handed a $170 billion-dollar blank-check with little to no oversight," said Mayor Johnsonduring his remarks. "The money that the Republicans gave to ICE is more than the funding allocated to police by state and local governments in all 50 states and the District of Columbia combined. And the guy they put in charge of that funding can be bought for $50,000 in cash. They are lining their own pockets and the pockets of the executives of a small number of corporations."

Trump administration cuts to essential programs, including Medicaid and SNAP, will only worsen the effects of poverty and bring newfound hardship to working Chicagoans. More than 330,000 people in Illinois are set to lose healthcareaccess due to Trump administration health care cuts while more than 427,000 Illinois residents are at risk of losing their food assistance.

"At a time when they are cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from healthcare, public health, housing, and defunding public education-manufacturing austerity. I'll say it plainly, the Trump administration is worsening poverty and at the same time declaring war on the poor," continued Mayor Johnsonduring his remarks.

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