June 17 (UPI) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is warning President Donald Trump to “respect the Constitution” after the president ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to ramp up deportation efforts in Democratic-led sanctuary cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles.
In response, Johnson and city officials announced Tuesday they will relaunch a “Know Your Rights” ad campaign to educate Chicago residents.
“Even if the federal government doesn’t know or care about the Constitution, Chicagoans deserve to know their constitutional rights,” Johnson told reporters at a City Hall news conference.
The ads, which will educate residents about their rights if they are stopped or detained by ICE agents, will be displayed on more than 400 screens across the Chicago Transit Authority system.
The ads direct transit riders to the campaign website with a more in-depth resource guide, which is translated in multiple languages. The guide instructs residents how to react if stopped, but warned the information “should not be construed as legal advice.”
“We can’t tell people not to be afraid,” said Beatriz Ponce de León, Chicago’s deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights. “Folks are seeing what is happening here and in other cities. But what we can do is give people information. The best that people can do is be prepared.”
Earlier this month, Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles to help protect ICE agents and federal buildings after protests in the downtown area turned violent. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom objected to the president’s actions, calling the deployment unjustified.
Other sanctuary cities, including Chicago, are now bracing for a similar crackdown. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has joined Johnson in opposing the president’s actions, while Trump denounced state leadership.
“I look at Chicago. You’ve got a really bad governor and a bad mayor. But the governor is probably the worst in history,” Trump said.
Pritzker responded by saying, “I think you can see that this has not gone well for him politically, and he’s all about the politics.”
Acting director of ICE, Tom Homan, told CNN in January that Chicago’s efforts to educated undocumented immigrants have made deportation efforts “very difficult.”
“For instance, Chicago is very well educated,” Homan said. “They call it ‘know your rights.’ I call it how to escape arrest … how to hide from ICE.”
