Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls for the Arrest of ICE Officers
Jonathan Turley – As a native Chicagoan, I must confess that I have little patience for Mayor Brandon Johnson, a politician who has been a disaster for the city. One of the most unpopular mayors in the city’s history, Johnson has been using the increased ICE operations to try to ride a wave of rage back into popularity. His language has become more and more inflammatory in calling for citizens to “resist” and “fight” federal law enforcement. Now, he is claiming the authority to not only mandate “ICE-free zones” in the city but to arrest federal officers.
Ironically, Johnson has declared that President Donald Trump wants a “rematch of the Civil War.” However, it is Johnson who is pursuing antebellum policies. It was the South that claimed independence from the Union and fought to expel federal troops.
Johnson signed a ridiculous executive order creating “ICE-Free Zones” to ban federal agents from using city-owned properties and property of unwilling private owners as staging areas for immigration enforcement.
The federal government has its own jurisdictional authority and can enter city and private property in pursuit of lawful operations. In terms of “staging” operations, the Constitution, not Brandon Johnson, protects citizens from having their property seized or used for the quartering of troops.
Most importantly, the City of Chicago cannot arrest federal officers who are conducting federal operations. This point was correctly noted earlier by Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling, who said that CPD officers will not arrest federal law enforcement, “because someone deems what they are doing is illegal.”
Nevertheless, Johnson was back to his signature chest-pounding bravado: “We’re going to see people in court. As far as other authority that allows for us to be able to enforce this ordinance, we’re exploring.”
In the meantime, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been using equally inflammatory language about a few hundred National Guardsmen “occupying” the city and, most recently, told Rachel Maddow that the National Guard would intimidate voters at polling places and it might even seize voting boxes or ballots to steal the upcoming election.
Both leaders are attempting to marshal the mob for political purposes. At a time of rising political violence, including the recent sniper attack on an ICE facility and the Charlie Kirk assassination, Pritzker and Johnson are fueling the rage.
The federal government has the right to enforce these laws to deport individuals. Congress passed these laws and, if these politicians oppose them, they can seek to rescind deportation laws in the democratic system.
Johnson has continued to double down on his reckless rhetoric, declaring that
“The Trump administration must end the war on Chicago. The Trump administration must end this war against Americans. The Trump administration must end its attempt to dismantle our democracy.”
Threatening the arrest of federal officers enforcing federal law is not defending the rule of law or democracy. Indeed, a similar claim was made by Southern politicians not only before the Civil War but during the Civil Rights era. It was governors like George Wallace who insisted that he could stop federal officials and the National Guard from enforcing federal law.
Likewise, it was George Wallace who objected to the “unwelcomed, unwanted, unwarranted, and force-induced intrusion” in his state by federal law enforcement.
Before Johnson attempts to arrest federal officials, he might want to take another look at the Constitution and review some history on the subject. Wallace also tried to ride the wave of rage to power after “standing at the schoolhouse door in person, if necessary.” It did not work. The federal government prevailed, and Wallace was left as a tragic relic of history.
SF Source Jonathan Turley Oct 2025