Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson heads to D.C., set to talk about responding to immigration raids
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson headed to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to speak at the National Press Club luncheon.
The mayor plans to talk about the challenges of leading Chicago this past year, and what city officials learned about resisting federal overreach and responding to federal immigration raids in the city.
"I'm obviously very much still concerned about the private, masked, terrorizing police force that the Trump administration continues to sic on working people across this country," said Mayor Johnson said Tuesday. "It's why I've used every single tool available that's available to me, and many mayors have looked to those tools that we've used, whether it's through the ICE-free zones, and even the litigation around ICE-free zones, so that we can strengthen and codify our ability to enforce it."
Mayor Johnson said the next step has to be "real organized resistance, as what we saw organized and prepared during the Civil Rights Movement."
"We cannot just simply leave it to protests that just react to the egregious and the harmful and deadly actions coming from the Trump administration," Johnson said.
Johnson is in Washington to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Meanwhile, Mayor Johnson also said he is extremely proud of how Chicago handled the 2024 Democratic National Convention. But he is concerned that if the city were awarded the 2028 convention, it would not receive the federal help needed for security for the event.
"You know, the Democratic National Convention would take place at a time in which the Trump administration will still be in charge, and what we've seen in cities across America — and more recently Minneapolis — that to turn over our security to the Trump administration, it's not just me," said Johnson. "There are a number of us that have profound concerns about that."
In 2024, Chicago received a $75 million grant from the federal government for security costs.
Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Las Vegas, and San Antonio are also believed to be bidding to host the political convention in 2028.