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Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson accused President Donald Trump of “attempting to get us to surrender our humanity” as he ripped the White House Tuesday for the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement operations that are unfolding in his city.
More than 100 people in the region have been detained since ICE and federal authorities began their raids on Sunday, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said.
“What this administration is attempting to do, he is attempting to get us to surrender our humanity. We’re not going to do that in Chicago,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday.
“You know, look, every administration, by the way, has deported individuals from our country, every administration,” the Democrat added, but he claimed “there’s a real goal here to stoke fear into the American people.”
ICE agents knock on the door of a residence during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago on Sunday, Jan. 26. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Chicago has welcomed nearly 52,000 migrants since August 2022, according to city data. The cumulative total the city has spent on the “New Arrivals Mission” through December 2024 totaled $629.9 million.
At one point, Johnson took a swipe at the White House, saying “I think what’s clear from this administration is that they do not have the full pulse or the breadth of what people in America are calling for.”
“How are we going to put food on their table? No answer from this administration. How are we going to ensure that our communities have affordable homes? It’s no answer from this administration. How are we going to lower the prices of groceries? No answer from this administration,” he said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson claims the Trump administration is trying to “stoke fear into the American people.” (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
In the end, Johnson said there is a “real anxiety in the air” in Chicago and “just like we dealt with the crisis at the border when the Republican Party attacked our city, sending buses [of migrants there] without notice, we got through that. We’re going to get through this moment, and we’re going to get through it together.”
Fox News’ Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.
