Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Monday banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from city-owned spaces. This move comes as the city’s leadership is challenging the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.
ICE agents and other federal agencies will not be permitted to use city-owned areas to prepare for or conduct their operations.
From NBC Chicago:
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday signed an executive order 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."
During a press conference, Johnson explained that the order is “aimed at reining in this out-of-control administration” and that it “establishes ICE-free zones.”
“That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids,” the mayor added.
🚨 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson just announced he signed an executive order creating "ICE Free Zones" to ban ICE agents from city property.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 6, 2025
This is SICK. He is aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, traffickers, and gang bangers. pic.twitter.com/LaMbxaqePP
Johnson slammed the Trump administration and ICE for its enforcement operations in the Windy City.
"We have a rogue, reckless group of heavily armed, masked individuals roaming throughout our city that are not accountable to the people of Chicago,” he said. “Their actions put all Chicagoans at risk.”
"Our school parking lots are not for ICE to load their weapons; they are for Chicagoans who drop their kids off to learn,” the mayor continued. “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.”
This comes after Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported that the city’s Chief of Patrol instructed police officers not to respond to calls for help coming from Border Patrol agents if they find themselves in a precarious situation.
NEW: Multiple law enforcement sources confirm to @FoxNews that Chicago police officers were instructed by their Chief of Patrol to NOT respond to Border Patrol agents call for help yesterday after they were reportedly surrounded by a large crowd of protesters following a ramming… pic.twitter.com/ipPl22Ya3I
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 5, 2025
On Saturday, ICE agents shot and wounded a woman who rammed a vehicle carrying federal agents in Chicago. The agents opened fire after she tried to ram them with her vehicle as they exited their vehicles. She was arrested and hospitalized soon after.