On Monday, a diverse crowd of about 100 people packed the lobby of Chicago City Hall to defend the city’s sanctuary status.
Many of them will return this Wednesday when the City Council votes on amending the city’s Welcoming City Ordinance. The proposed amendment, backed by Alds. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) and Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward), is meant to be a show of cooperation with incoming President Donald Trump’s administration, which has threatened to make Chicago “ground zero for deportations.”
Though Latin American migrants have become the face of immigration, there are Black people within the Diaspora who will be impacted should the amendment be approved by the City Council this week, according to Chicago Urban League senior vice president Kafi Moragne-Patterson.
Nearly five percent of Chicago’s immigrant population is from African countries, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This means that if mass deportations occur as freely as promised by the Trump administration, both Black Americans and Black immigrant communities are also at risk.
“When we think about opening carte blanche policing to anyone who might presume to be an immigrant, I think it’s incumbent for Black people to remember that that could be them,” Moragne-Patterson said. “So we’re not as far removed from the experience as we think we are.”
Moragne-Patterson said the broad policing practices written in the proposed amendment have the potential to violate the Fourth Amendment, which prevents the federal government from conducting unreasonable search and seizure and could disproportionately harm both Black and brown communities.
“So I really do believe that our destinies and fates are tied to each other for that reason,” Moragne-Patterson said, referring to both Black Americans and Latin American migrants..
If passed, the proposed amendment — which can be found here — would allow the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on immigration enforcement efforts.
However, legal experts, elected leaders and immigrant rights advocates say the proposed amendment violates state laws like the Illinois Trust Act and the Keep Illinois Families Together Act. Both laws make Illinois a sanctuary state, according to Illinois State Rep. Lilian Jiménez (D-4th), and prevent local law enforcement agencies from working with ICE to enforce federal immigration laws.

Photo by Tyger Ligon for The TRiiBE®
“No law enforcement officer in the state of Illinois is to respond to an ICE detainer [or] cooperate with immigration or ICE in any type of mass detention, mass arrest, any type of violation of people’s Fourth Amendment [rights] or due process. So all of it, including these amendments, would potentially be a violation,” Jiménez said.
The amendment also outlines new categories of activities that would no longer be exempt from ICE enforcement. These include cases involving undocumented residents who have been arrested for, or convicted of, gang-related activities and drug-related activities such as selling, purchasing, or distributing illegal drugs; prostitution and sexual crimes involving minors.
“This amendment is a step backwards, a concession to xenophobia and fear that has no place in our city. As an undocumented person, I feel safer because of the Welcoming City Ordinance. This policy is not just a symbol. It has a tangible impact on our lives,” said Maria Celeste, a member of Organized Communities Against Deportation. “I have lived in the city, paid taxes and built community. Chicago is my home. The Welcoming City Ordinance allows me and so many others to feel a sense of security that empowers us.”
Dozens of elected leaders, faith leaders, labor unions, and grassroots organizations asked their members to show up to City Hall this week to stand in solidarity with immigrant communities. Among those present on Monday were Beatriz Ponce de León, the city’s deputy mayor for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; and alders from the City Council’s Latino and Progressive caucuses, including Alds. Julia Ramirez (12th Ward), Jeylú Gutiérrez (14th Ward), Michael Rodriguez (22nd Ward), Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward), Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward), Ruth Cruz (30th Ward), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward) and Andre Vasquez (40th Ward). Illinois State Rep. Lilian Jiménez (D-4th) and Illinois State Sen. Graciela Guzmán (D-20th) were also present.
The vote on the proposed amendment will take place less than a week before Trump is sworn into office. His administration has pledged to pause the entry of refugees into the U.S., carry out mass deportations, reinstate travel bans, close the U.S. southern border, and pressure sanctuary jurisdictions to cooperate—building on laws and policies from his first term in office.

After the 2024 election, Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, said that “Chicago would be ground zero for deportations.” Ald. Raymond Lopez has said he believes the “best way to protect law-abiding non-citizens from the returning Trump Administration is by working with them in apprehending their priority targets.”
However, immigrant and civil rights advocacy groups say the proposed amendment harms Chicago families and the city’s economy by increasing unemployment and the likelihood of police misconduct. It would expose the city and taxpayers to significant legal and financial liability.
Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, highlighted examples from New York City and Los Angeles County; in both places, law enforcement agencies cooperated with ICE by honoring immigration detainers. These detainers are requests from ICE asking law enforcement to hold a non-citizen for an additional 48 hours after their release date, according to the ACLU, “to decide whether to take the individual into federal custody for removal purposes.”
“New York City had to agree to pay $92.5 million for holding people unlawfully under the Fourth Amendment on ICE detainers,” Fleming explained. “In 2022, the Los Angeles County Sheriff had to pay $14 million because of Fourth Amendment violations for holding people unlawfully on immigration detainers.”
Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city dates back to former Mayor Harold Washington and his 1985 executive order barring employees from enforcing federal immigration law. He also ended the city’s practice of asking job applicants and driver’s license applicants for their immigration status.
In the four decades since, progressive leaders have often touted Washington’s legacy and the city’s imperative to protect undocumented residents. The most recent effort came in 2021 under Mayor Lori Lightfoot when the Welcoming City Ordinance was updated to further protect undocumented immigrants from ICE.
Over the last two years, tens of thousands of migrants have arrived in Chicago from the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East, but it’s been the current wave of Latin American migrants that has captured national headlines.
Moragne-Patterson discussed the power that comes from Black and brown solidarity, citing the formation of the Rainbow Coalition, which was founded by Illinois Black Panther Party leader Chairman Fred Hampton, William “Preacherman” Fesperman of the Young Patriots Organization, and Young Lords founder José Cha Cha Jiménez, who passed away on Jan. 10.
“I understand the tensions and I think that they are real, but I think that another group losing their right to protections of the Constitution don’t get us any closer to those things,” Moragne-Patterson said.
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