Former Obama White House chief of staff and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel pledged to defy President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to end the concept of sanctuary cities – he said that Chicago “will always be a sanctuary city.”
Chicago is committed to being a sanctuary city for immigrants. pic.twitter.com/nP5gJWPtPZ
— ChicagosMayor (@ChicagosMayor) November 13, 2016
Emanuel was speaking at a press conference on the subject of mental health services in the city. He acknowledged that some may be “very nervous and filled with anxiety” following the results of last Tuesday’s election, in which Trump scored a surprise victory over establishment favorite Hillary Clinton.
Clinton won nearly 75 percent of the vote in Cook County, where Chicago is located.
The mayor made this statement after Trump’s Sunday night “60 Minute” interview during which he stayed true to his anti-immigration campaign promises. Trump told Lesley Stahl in his interview that he would try to deport three million people in the country illegally with criminal records.
Trump has vowed to cut off federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities, overwhelmingly liberal places that refuse to enact federal immigration law by banning law enforcement from inquiring about a person’s immigration status. Chicago’s current law prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using city police facilities for their work.
Emanuel is not the only mayor of a city to go against Trump’s immigration plan – leaders in New York, Los Angeles and Minneapolis have made similar calls of resistance.