Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has been accused of improperly receiving gifts, recently vowed to defy the Trump administration’s agenda to carry out mass deportations of anyone who has illegally entered the United States. During a recent press conference, Johnson maintained that Chicago would prioritize its “welcoming city ordinance” instead of complying with the federal government to deport illegal aliens.
Brandon was recently accused of failing to document expensive designer gifts properly and investigators were reportedly blocked from accessing a “gift room” in City Hall. A report was released last week by the City of Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG) alleging that Johnson received numerous lavish gifts such as Hugo Boss cuff links, a personalized Montblanc pen, designer bags, and more between 2022 and 2024.
According to the report from the OIG, nearly 70 percent of the 380 logged gifts within this time frame fail to identify the donor, drawing serious concerns over the lack of oversight. When officials from the OIG attempted to access the “gift room,” they were stonewalled and refused access by authorities. Johnson has defended himself, maintaining they are gifts to the “city” and the report from the OIG report is mischaracterizing.
Furthermore, Johnson recently asserted that the Windy City would defy the Trump administration’s efforts to arrest and deport illegal immigrants nationwide. “We’ll continue to protect civil and human rights, and we welcome all individuals and families who want to work, live and thrive here in our beloved city. The welcoming city ordinance is a law, and it is a law of the land,” he said.
He continued, “Here in Chicago, we will uphold it, along with the complimentary Illinois Trust Act to ensure that our immigrant communities are safe. Furthermore, we intend to continue to continue to empower all of our communities throughout our city with crucial information and resources. At this time, on the city’s website chicago.gov we offer a know your rights resource guide, providing all information, tools, and context, that our immigrant communities should know the full force of government, from my office, city departments as well as all of our agencies.”
The American Tribune previously reported on stern comments from Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, who sent a stark warning to local and state Democratic leaders trying to interfere with the deportations. Many governors across different blue states had been threatening to fight against the administration shortly after the election, leading Homan to caution them against committing felonies.
“I’ve said 100 times in the last week, don’t cross that line. It’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal illegal alien from immigration authorities – don’t test us,” Homan said. The Democratic mayor of Denver, Colorado, previously stated that he would be willing to be imprisoned for fighting the Trump administration. Homan responded to this, stating, “You’re absolutely breaking the law. All he has to do is look at Arizona versus U.S. you’ll see that he’s breaking law. But look me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing, he’s willing to go in jail.”
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Watch Johnson below:
“I’m willing to put him in jail because there’s a statute of his title eight in the United States, code 1324, triple i,” Homan added, “What it says is it’s a felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal from immigration authorities, there’s also a felony to impede a federal law enforcement officer, so if he doesn’t want to help that’s fine, he can get the hell out of the way, but we’re going to go do the job.”
Watch Homan below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.