Mayor Brandon Johnson nods to "ABOLISH ICE" nomination in Chicago snowplow naming contest
The city of Chicago is accepting submissions for its fourth annual snowplow naming contest, and it appears Mayor Brandon Johnson might have an early favorite: "ABOLISH ICE."
The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation opened the contest last week, and will continue accepting names for snowplows through Jan. 10, or until it receives 20,000 submissions, whichever happens first.
The city will then pick 25 finalists, and people will be able to vote for up to six finalists between Feb. 1 and Feb. 14. The city will then announce the six winners, and the first person who submitted each winning name will get the chance to have their picture taken with the snowplow they helped to name.
Past winning names include "Mrs. O'Leary's Plow," "Sears Plower," "CTRL-SALT-DELETE," "Ernie Snowbanks," and "Snower Wacker."
On the day this winter's contest started, one X user posted a screenshot of their entry, "ABOLISH ICE," along with the message, "Everyone else go home — this is the year we secure ABOLISH ICE on a Chicago Snowplow."
The next day, Mayor Johnson quote posted that entry on X, along with an emoji of a wide open pair of eyes.
Not everyone on X was quite as thrilled with the "ABOLISH ICE" suggestion, with one user responding "The snow plow names are suppose to be fun and light hearted. Not political. Don't ruin a fun thing."
The original poster of the "ABOLISH ICE" submission responded, "this IS a fun, light-hearted and nonpolitical. not sure why you're trying to bring politics into it — i am merely stating an objective fact that snowplows 'abolish ice,'" to which the mayor's press office replied, "True."
"Abolish ICE" has become a popular refrain for critics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, particularly during the ongoing federal immigration enforcement effort in the Chicago area.
While Mayor Johnson has yet to explicitly call for the government to eliminate that federal agency, he has been an outspoken critic of the immigration crackdown in Chicago.