Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke Saturday for the first time in response to Donald Trump’s plans to ramp up deportation operations in Chicago, and delivered a diatribe filled with left-wing talking points but little else.
The self-described “progressive” Democrat mayor appeared on CNN host Victor Blackwell’s “First of All” podcast on Saturday, but despite being asked over and over about whether or not he would block Trump’s deportation efforts, Johnson refused to answer and instead spewed a constant stream of anti-Trump talking points and liberal doggerel.
Blackwell opened his podcast asking the mayor, “Let’s start here your reaction to Homan saying he’s going to come after you if you stand in his way.”
“Well, you know, unfortunately — first of all, good morning and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to the people of the globe,” the mayor began. “Look the president elect and the former president of the United States of America, Trump, has demonstrated an incredible disdain for people, and my responsibility as Mayor of the City of Chicago is to invest in people, to protect people, and connect them to the resources that are ultimately needed in order to build not just a better, stronger, safer Chicago, but to build in the economy that’s sustainable,” Johnson said while working to avoid the question.
“You know, this President has shown disdain towards not just immigrants, but lovers of public education. He is dead set on abolishing the entire education department. As a former public school teacher, as a product of public education, as someone who sends my children to public schools; working people around this country want public education to work,” Johnson said, continuing with his anti-Trump talking points.
“He has shown an incredible animus towards public housing. Public Housing has been the way in which families have found true stability, their ability to experience a human right. He has demonstrated contempt towards vouchers, which would ultimately make it hard for families to access affordable homes. We built 3600 affordable homes in the city of Chicago since I’ve been in office,” the left-wing mayor said, patting himself on the back.
“He’s also shown a great deal of evilness towards the Department of the Environment. He doesn’t believe in science. Twenty percent of the world’s fresh water is right here in the city of Chicago. We can build a green, blue economy to create real, sustainable opportunities for people. And so he has not just shown animus towards immigrants. He has shown a great deal of animus towards working people across the city of Chicago, and it is my responsibility, and is my joy, to protect all residents of this beloved city,” he said, still avoiding Blackwell’s actual question.
Blackwell then played a clip of Trump border czar Tom Homan, who said he was asking for Democrat-controlled police departments to let Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents know the whereabouts of criminal illegals.
“I don’t want them to be immigration officers,” Homan said of police departments in the clip Blackwell played. “I want them, when they arrest an illegal alien for a serious crime, I’m just asking them to tell us where to find them. I don’t want you to hold a minute more. You have to hold them under your charges. But just work with us and take these public safety threats, not only off the streets but on the country. ”
Blackwell then honed his question to a sharper point and asked Johnson, “So let me, let me ask you specifically, if you have someone in CPD who takes custody of someone who fits that scenario, that profile, accused of a violent crime in the country illegally, does local law allow you to inform ICE? And will you do that?”
Johnson again went off with left-wing talking points and refused to actually answer the question.
“Here’s what the local law does. First of all, you know, as a sanctuary city. You know, this ordinance was birthed by the first black mayor in the history of Chicago, Mayor Harry Washington. He understood during the Reagan administration, as foreign policies disrupted Central and South America, he made it very clear that the city of Chicago will serve as refuge for people around the globe. And so there’s a strong black liberation presentation that comes out of the city of Chicago as it relates to being a sanctuary city,” Johnson exclaimed.
“Look, the law is very clear. Local police officers are not federal agents. That is clear. This so-called border czar seems to be getting educated more and more throughout you know, you know his, I guess, his speaking tour. It’s unfortunate, though, that there is an abominable ignorance that exists within the Trump administration that continues to displace and cause chaos,” Johnson said in his well-worn accusatory manner.
The rest of the interview was equally useless as CNN’s Blackwell pressed Johnson on the point several times and asked the mayor if his city’s sanctuary ordinances prevent the police from informing ICE about the presence in the city’s jails of illegal aliens, or if he — as mayor — simply intends to enforce a personal policy of preventing that cooperation. But the mayor refused to directly answer the question and instead danced around the issue, repeatedly falling back on the canard that “the police are not immigration agents” when no one — including Homan — has ever said they are or should be.
Later in the interview, Johnson also made the false claim that Jesus of Nazareth was a “refugee” when he was born.
“There are people all across this country who are going to celebrate this holiday season about the birth of Jesus Christ who fleed [sic] political and religious oppression as a refugee, as an asylum seeker,” Johnson blurted out.
None of this is true, of course. Christ’s parents were not “refugees,” or “asylum seekers,” and he was not born while they were “fleeing” anywhere. Christ’s parents, Mary and Joseph, were filing their taxes in their visit to Bethlehem, not fleeing their home.
Regardless, despite a constant stream of false claims, incorrect factoids, and liberal talking points, Johnson never did tell Blackwell’s audience if he intended to use the Chicago Police Department to physically oppose ICE agents from performing their duties to round up and deport illegal aliens from the Windy City.
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