Lori Lightfoot

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will get no support from the city in any planned raids.

“We are all aware of the threat from President Trump regarding raids by ICE, and in response, Chicago has taken concrete steps to support our immigrant communities,” Lightfoot said in a statement Friday.

The mayor said that she directed — and Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson confirmed — that the Chicago Police Department terminate ICE’s access to CPD’s databases related to federal immigration enforcement activities.

“I have also personally spoken with ICE leadership in Chicago and voiced my strong objection to any such raids,” Lightfoot said. “Further, I reiterated that CPD will not cooperate with or facilitate any ICE enforcement actions.”

President Donald Trump had tweeted June 17 that ICE raids were coming.

“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” the president wrote. “They will be removed as fast as they come in … .”

On June 18, before boarding his Marine One aircraft, the president reiterated that the ICE raids were coming.

“They’re going to start next week,” Trump told reporters, “and when people come into our country and they come in illegally, they have to go out; and everybody is seeing that.”

Donald Trump

He said that Mexico and Guatemala are doing a very job in stemming illegal migration headed to the U.S. border.

“So we’ll see how that works out,” Trump said. “With all of that being said, the Democrats should get together and solve the asylum problem, which is very easy to solve; and they should solve the loophole problem, also very easy to solve.”

Lightfoot said that the city would be ready to help immigrants in whatever way needed.

“Chicago will always be a welcoming city and a champion for the rights of our immigrant and refugee communities; and I encourage any resident in need of legal aid to contact the National Immigration Justice Center.”