A former director of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Monday that Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago violated federal law and the Constitution with his latest effort to resist immigration law enforcement.
Johnson issued an executive order creating “ICE-free zones” in Chicago, claiming that “drastic action” was necessary after a weekend in which federal agents were ambushed and Chicago police allegedly stood down rather than respond. Former ICE Director Jonathan Fahey told Fox News host John Roberts the Constitution’s supremacy clause trumped Johnson’s order.
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“Normally, cities would welcome federal help that have crime problems, and you see D.C. Mayor Bowser, after initial reluctance, has actually welcomed it and the city is better off, I think, objectively. But Brandon Johnson’s new executive order is pretty amazing on a couple of fronts, because it violates two federal laws: One, the alien harboring law, which has anything to shield illegal aliens from detection and he specifically says that’s the purpose of it. It’s also a violation of federal obstruction, because it’s to impede federal agents.”
“So the big, fun irony of his executive order is that it violates federal law and it’s also unenforceable on its terms under the supremacy clause,” Fahey continued. “So, another stunt, but I don’t even think he recognizes really what the repercussions would be if it was actually played out.”
ICE facilities in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have been the scene of multiple riots as opposition to the agency’s operations targeting illegal immigrants has intensified. Some of the rioters in Chicago called for the ICE agents to be arrested or shot in a video posted online during one of the riots.
Two people were killed during a shooting at the ICE office in Dallas on Sept. 24, with the gunman taking his own life. In Texas, there were two previous incidents where shots were fired at ICE or Border Patrol facilities since July 4, with ten people being charged with attempted murder in connection with the former incident.
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