Chicago mayor signing order to stop federal agents from using certain city-owned spaces

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The order is set to take effect "immediately."

By NBC Chicago Staff and The Associated Press • Published 18 mins ago • Updated 14 seconds ago

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was expected to sign an executive order Monday aimed at limiting where federal agents can gather in the city, prohibiting them from using certain city-owned spaces for immigration enforcement activities.

The order, which is set to take effect immediately, will prohibit federal immigration authorities from using "city-owned or controlled parking lots, vacant lots, and garages as staging areas, processing locations, or operations bases for civil immigration enforcement activities," it states.

"In recent weeks, federal agents used several City-owned properties—including parking lots near Harrison and Kedzie, and a vacant lot at 46th and Damen—as staging sites for immigration enforcement," the mayor's office said in a release about the order. "Such use of City property undermines community trust and runs counter to Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which ensures that all residents—regardless of immigration status—can live, work, and seek services without fear."

A “staging area” was defined in the order as "any location used to assemble, mobilize, or deploy personnel, vehicles, or equipment for immigration enforcement operations."

"We have a rogue, reckless group of heavily armed, masked individuals roaming throughout our city that are not accountable to the people of Chicago. Their actions put all Chicagoans at risk," Johnson said while announcing the executive order.

He described the order as creating "ICE-free zones."

"Our school parking lots are not for ICE to load their weapons, they are for Chicagoans who drop their kids off to learn. Our libraries are not for ICE to prepare for a raid, they're for Chicagoans to read and relax. Our parks are not for ICE to set up checkpoints, they are for Chicagoans to play and enjoy," Johnson said.

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