Chicago\u2019s own leadership has described ICE\u2019s conduct in the city as a series of actions that violated constitutionally protected rights, destabilized neighborhoods and provoked life-threatening confrontations. This is the language officials use when an agency behaves like a lawless paramilitary force, not a legitimate arm of the federal government.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
In Minnesota, federal agents went even further \u2014 storming homes without warrants, conducting stops without legal justification and seizing people who had no criminal records, including children and U.S. citizens. These are illegal acts, full stop. Legal analyses make clear that ICE simply ignored the limits of its own authority.<\/p>\n
And then came the deaths. Renee Good. Alex Pretti. Both killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis \u2014 killings that shocked the conscience of the nation and ignited statewide protests. These tragedies did not occur in isolation; they happened amid an operation so sweeping and unrestrained that Minnesota\u2019s own governor called it an \u201coccupation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker saw Operation Midway Blitz for what it was: an unannounced, militarized federal invasion of his state. He immediately began preparing legal action against the Trump administration for its reckless deployment of ICE and Border Patrol agents into Chicago communities.<\/p>\n
But Pritzker didn\u2019t stop at mere rhetoric \u2014 he backed one of the strongest state-level countermeasures in modern immigration policy. House Bill 1312 would create \u201csafe zones,\u201d ban ICE from courthouse arrests and allow residents to sue federal agents who violate their constitutional rights. This is a direct and unapologetic challenge to ICE\u2019s culture of impunity.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took the federal government head-on, calling the ICE surge \u201ca campaign of organized brutality\u201d and demanding it end immediately. Walz publicly condemned the indiscriminate stops, the home invasions and the terror inflicted on families \u2014 stating plainly that the operation had caused generational trauma, economic devastation and profound civic harm.<\/p>\n
These are not the words of timid officials. These are the words of leaders who know their people are under assault.<\/p>\n
In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson did what the federal government has refused to do: He moved to hold rogue federal agents criminally accountable. His \u201cICE On Notice\u201d executive order requires Chicago police to document illegal ICE activity, secure body-camera evidence and report violations of state and local law. This order makes Chicago the first city in America to build infrastructure capable of prosecuting ICE and CBP agents for misconduct.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s message is unambiguous: If the federal government will not restrain its own agents, Chicago will do it for them. He has also strengthened sanctuary protections and barred ICE from using city property as operational staging grounds \u2014 a direct counterstrike against Washington\u2019s authoritarian overreach.<\/p>\n
In Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey has been just as explicit, calling for a nationwide end to the \u201cICE siege\u201d and condemning the agency for transforming his city into the epicenter of an unconstitutional crackdown. Frey has repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of federal forces and highlighted the catastrophic impact of ICE\u2019s actions on Minneapolis residents, including shuttered businesses, terrified families and the deaths of two community members at ICE\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
This is what constitutional leadership looks like.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be very clear: ICE did not enforce the law \u2014 it violated it. It terrorized communities, conducted illegal operations and left death in its wake.<\/p>\n
And when federal leadership refused to enforce accountability, it was state and local officials \u2014 Pritzker, Walz, Johnson and Frey \u2014 who stood up in its place.<\/p>\n
Their defiance is not radical. It is not partisan. It is not symbolic.<\/p>\n
It is constitutional patriotism.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n
At a time when a federal agency behaves as if it is above the law, these leaders have reminded the country that:<\/p>\n
The Constitution still applies. States still have rights. Local governments still have a duty to protect their residents. And no federal badge grants immunity from the rule of law.<\/p>\n
America needs more leaders willing to confront unlawful federal power with this level of clarity and courage. Because if ICE can trample constitutional rights in Chicago and Minneapolis today, it can do the same in any American city tomorrow.<\/p>\n
And if that happens, we will depend \u2014 desperately \u2014 on leaders like Pritzker, Walz, Johnson and Frey to stand firm once again.<\/p>\n
Morial is president\/CEO of the National Urban League.<\/em><\/p>\nSource: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Marc H. Morial \u201cIf the federal government will not hold these rogue actors accountable, then Chicago will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-fights-back","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7432,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7430\/revisions\/7432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}