President Donald Trump signed three executive orders addressing immigration enforcement Monday night, including targeting officials who uphold sanctuary city laws and boosting access to military for state and local law enforcement.
Observers said it’s the latest in a series of actions demonstrating how the administration “has it in for” sanctuary cities like Chicago.
One of the orders signed by Trump orders state and federal officials to publish lists of jurisdictions often referred to as sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with federal officials’ efforts to arrest immigrants in the country illegally.
A second order signed by Trump calls for increasing access to excess military for state and local law enforcement. It also calls for bolstering legal support for officers accused of wrongdoing while carrying out their official duties.
Trump also directs the office of Attorney General Pam Bondi to set up a system that would provide legal aid and financial protection to law enforcement officers “who unjustly incur expenses and liabilities for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law.”
A third order reinforces an existing federal law requiring English-language proficiency as a requirement for commercial motor drivers.
The executive orders are the latest effort to crack down on immigration and target sanctuary cities — and Chicago — by the Trump administration.
“This administration already has it in for us,” said Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
The executive order to make a list of all the sanctuary cities that don’t comply with federal immigration laws doesn’t do anything new, Tsao said.
“So far as putting a list together, we know that the state of Illinois, Cook County and the city of Chicago are already on that list. How do we know that? Because the Justice Department is already suing us over our welcoming policies,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has gone after Chicago for its sanctuary policies, he added.
“The first Trump administration also went after the city of Chicago by trying to take away Federal Police grant funding that was issued through the Justice Department,” he said. “The city of Chicago sued, and the city of Chicago won.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson wasn’t immediately available for comment on Trump’s latest orders. Earlier this month, the mayor took his running feud with the president to another level when he characterized Trump’s threats to withhold billions in federal funding from sanctuary cities as “terrorism.”
“Trying to force your will to break the spirit of working people in order to have a conversation — that’s terrorism. And we’re not going to negotiate with terrorists,” Johnson said then.
Trump’s executive orders is the latest in a series of shots taken at the city that has long been one of his favorite political punching bags.
Before Trump’s inauguration, border czar Tom Homan warned Johnson to “come to the table or get out of the way” of mass deportations where Chicago will be “ground zero.”
In March, Johnson, along with mayors of other sanctuary cities — Michelle Wu of Boston, Mike Johnston of Denver and Eric Adams of New York — were grilled by conservative lawmakers in a high-stakes congressional hearing.
Chicago has been a sanctuary city since March 1985, via an executive order from Mayor Harold Washington that has since been passed as an ordinance.
The city’s sanctuary city status does not block federal agents from lawfully carrying out their jobs. The ordinance calls for the city to not cooperate with immigration officials.
Contributing: Dorothy Hernandez, AP
