Chicago voters to be asked if city should go after government for money spent on Trump's immigration crackdown

Voters in Chicago will have a chance to decide in November if the city should go after the federal government for money spent dealing with the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown and Operation Midway Blitz.

The Chicago City Council voted during their Wednesday special meeting to include a non-binding question, posed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, on the November midterm election ballot asking if "the City shall pursue all lawful means to recover financial compensation from the federal government for the costs and economic harm caused by the Donald Trump administration's ICE operations to recover lost tax revenue, public safety response costs, and services provided to residents and families affected."

The council voted 46-1 to approve the question, with three alderpersons absent. Ald. Anthony Napolitano, who represents the city's 41st Ward, was the only no vote.

The council also approved three other questions on the February municipal election ballot, all of which were approved by critics of the mayor and will take the place of ballot questions he had proposed, including about voters' reception of a millionaire's tax.

Those February nonbinding ballot questions will include whether the city should build a monument for the city's music and arts, if the city should withhold funding from sister agencies like the CTA or Chicago Public Schools to claw back debt, and whether the city council should let alderpersons get their own lawyers independent of the city's Law Department.