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City
of Chicago City Council Rules of Conduct for Public
Meetings 2023 to 2027.
Pursuant to Rule 58 of the Chicago City Council Rules of
Order and Procedure, the Sergeant at
Arms sets forth
the following rules of conduct for members of the public.
These rules shall be in effect at all times that a viewing
gallery or room is open for a meeting of the City Council
or any of its committees. All individuals and their
belongings are subject to search at entry or upon request.
Individuals must remain seated at all times except,
one, when entering or exiting the gallery.
Two, when providing public comment during the portion of a meeting
set aside for that purpose. Or three, when
asked to rise and be acknowledged by a member of the City Council.
Profane, threatening, harassing, abusive,
or defamatory behavior or speech, which in the
judgment of the meeting's chair or the Sergeant at Arms, may
lead to a breach of the peace or disrupt the orderly conduct
of the meeting is not permitted. Disruptive or distracting
actions, such as the stomping of feet, waving of arms,
throwing any item, whistling, booing, shouting,
or other loud utterances are not permitted when in the judgment of the
meeting's chair or the Sergeant at Arms, such actions are
disrupting or impeding the orderly conduct of the meeting.
Any item that poses a potential safety hazards, as determined by the
Sergeant at Arms, is prohibited in the gallery.
Such items include but are not limited to, one, any
pointed objects, including knives of any kind.
Two, banners, flyers, or other forms of signage.
Three, food and beverages, including in glass or
metal canisters. Four, backpacks, large
bags, and sealed packages. Clear bags, not tinted in
color, that do not exceed 12 inches by 6 inches by
12 are permitted and subject to search.
And five, firearms, ammunition, fireworks,
laser pointers, stun guns, tasers, mace, pepper
spray, and toy weapons. Cell phones and other small
handheld recording devices must be placed in silent mode,
can only be used while seated, and can only be used in a
manner that does not interfere with the ability of other
individuals to view or hear the proceedings.
Individuals or groups failing to adhere to these
rules will be subject to removal from the remainder of the
meeting by the Sergeant at Arms.
Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining us for this Committee on Health
and Human Relations meeting. It is 10:25
a.m. on May 7 of 2026, and this meeting is now called to
order. On today's agenda, we will consider one ordinance and two
resolutions, followed by a subject matter hearing.
Before we begin, I will call the roll to establish quorum.
Vice Chair Ramirez.
Alderman Robinson.
Here.
Alderman Yancy.
Present.
Alderwoman Gutierrez. Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Sicchoe Lopez.
Alderwoman Fuentes. Alderwoman Cruz.
Here.
Alderman Quezada.
Alderman Lawson.
Alderwoman Mena-Hoppenworth.
Alderwoman Hadden.
And Chair Rodriguez Sanchez is present.
We have eight members present.
I want to recognize Alderwoman Lee, who is a non-member, and she is
present.
We have a request for remote participation citing Rule 59
from Alderwoman Gutierrez, Alderwoman Hadden, and Alderman Lawson.
Can I get a motion to approve the participation of Alders Gutierrez, Hadden, and
Lawson?
So moved by Alderman Quezada. All those in favor signify by saying "I."
All of those,
please say "No." In the opinion of the chair, the I's have it.
We have a quorum, and we will begin our meeting with the time for public comment.
The period is limited to 30 minutes, and each speaker is limited to three
minutes.
We are going to start with Mr. George
Blakemore.
George Blakemore.
Young lady, why would you have this meeting
here at this time and as subject matter
only? And
if I had known,
looking at the agenda prior, that this was dealing with immigration,
illegal immigrants, why would you do this?
I
only see one
Black. Two, one Black American, one from Haiti.
They are boycotting.
They're boycotting the Hispanics.
And where are the white
aldermen?
We have 50 aldermen. They are boycotting.
That means they don't go along with this.
It's something un-American that's going on here.
Wouldn't you like
for
us,
the Black Americans, to be here? And young lady, you
hear me talking to you,
carrying on a second conversation.
Wouldn't you like to reach out to all the
77 communities in our city?
Just the
Hispanics and Chinese. Where are the
Blacks?
You didn't want us hereBut I am here
looking at your
watch, wanting me to shut up and sit down.
But God sent me here.
God sent me here, sister.
You my Black sister.
I can see you. I can see your hair. I can see your
complexion. I can see your facial features.
You are my Black sister.
That's what you are. Are you in denial?
Well, go, Mr. Blakemore. Just look who's
present.
And you didn't even reach out to your Black brothers and sisters, did
you? Did you tell them about this meeting?
Why they're not here, sister?
My sister.
So it's racism, nepotism,
corruption is here. Can't you see what I
see? Are you blind? Are you crippled?
Or are you crazy?
Can you see what I see?
Nepotism, racism. There's another sister that's coming
in.
Yes.
That's another sister.
There's another sister. So
again, it's corruption fraud,
but the big picture here is racism.
Look at them. Turn around. How many Blacks do you
see when our people was enslaved in America?
And another group coming in with,
trying to justify... Ah. Oh. Damn. Damn.
Our next speaker is Jessica Jackson. Ms. Jessica Jackson.
You can go to the microphone, please.
Purpose.
Because how I get second, you moved that on purpose because you
want... Look at me.
I pay your salary.
I'm sick of your disrespect.
All you do is prance around
in your tight dresses
and disrespect us all day long. That's all you do.
Now you have the audacity to be over the Human Relations Committee
when you don't try to build human relations at all in
here.
Half of these aldermen that's in here right now don't even come to
the committee meetings. They don't even come to work.
And now because there's something for these illegals, now they come to work?
We asked for a meeting, for a press conference on the third
floor
for the Black and Brown Coalition.
Yeah, put your hand there because you're so sick of me. I'm sick of you.
And not one Hispanic alderman was willing to stand with
us about our property being stolen, not one, so don't you
dare mention a Black and Brown Coalition because it does not
exist. What does exist is our Black
pride, our laws, our rights, and you all come over
here and
just soak them up.
You all can't bring not one law from your beloved
countries that would give you the right to be in this room,
let alone get some funding, let alone get some housing,
let alone being able to vote.
Bring so one law, just one, that
gives you the right from your country to be in here.
You can't name not a single one.
I thank God for President Donald J. Trump.
The fact that he's... You can huff all you want.
You shake your head, too. Whether you like it or not, he is the most powerful
man in the world, and what he's doing right now is historical for Black
people.
The fact that he's in front of the Supreme Court right now arguing that
the 14th Amendment is for us,
not for a bunch of anchor babies. It's going to be historical.
Whether he wins it or not, it's going to be historical because if he don't get it,
Black America is ready to hit the federal government with
benign neglect for Black America because you're taking care of a
bunch of illegal people on our dime, on our
back. Oh, you going to respect it, one way or another.
You're going to respect it. You and every other immigrant in
here.
Thank you for your comments.
Thank you, Ms. Jackson.
Our next speaker is Jerry Clarito.
Procedure.
Good morning, Chair. Wonderful day.
And members of this...
Yes, wonderful day.
Thank you for the opportunity,
and this is
really an opportunity
that we have all the rights to speak.
Today, I'm here to support the
amendment requiring improved race and
ethnicity data collection
by the Department of Public Health and the Department of Family
and Support Services.
My name is Jerry ClaritoAnd I speak today
on behalf of the Filipino American community
and immigrant communities
and American communities, including Black communities,
and the Filipino American Council of Greater Chicago which has
been serving our community for more than five decades.
This ordinance matters because communities
cannot be properly served if they are invisible in the
data.
Too often, Asian American,
Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
are combined into one broad umbrella group.
This hides important differences and reinforces the
model minority myth, which assumes all Asian
communities are doing well.
But community data tells us a different story.
A 2023 Chicago Insight
Survey of Filipino Americans in Chicago found that
more than two-thirds of respondents faced multiple
health and social risk factors, including high stress,
housing concerns, transportation barriers, and lack of
access to healthcare. Without disaggregated data,
these needs remain hidden. Without
this disaggregated data, the city cannot fully
understand or effectively respond to the unique
challenges facing Filipino residents and other
communities within the Asian American, Native Hawaiian,
and Pacific Islander population.
Chicago has a well-established Filipino community that
contributes greatly to this city.
But if we are not accurately counted, we cannot be fully
seen or properly served.
This is a small change in data collection, but it will make a
meaningful difference in equity, public health, and
community trust. I respectfully urge the City Council
to support this ordinance and ensure that our communities are
seen, counted, and served. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Zainab Zahid.
Good morning, Chair Rodriguez Sanchez, Vice Chair Ramirez, and members of the
committee. My name is Zainab Zahid.
I am the Wadea Al-Fayoumi Fellow with the Muslim Civic Coalition.
We are a statewide, nonpartisan organization dedicated to
advancing racial, economic, and educational equity.
We empower Illinois's diverse communities to fully participate in our
democracy through bold policy advocacy, coalition building,
voter education, and community-driven research,
including the first statewide data on Muslims, so the policies
we introduce, sponsor, and support are driven by evidence and
equity. Today, I am here to express our strong support for
this amendment of Municipal Code Title 2.
This ordinance directly impacts how the city collects and uses data to better
serve our Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
communities.
For too long, city data practices have grouped the incredibly diverse
population, spanning more than 50 ethnicities and over 100
languages, under a single category.
That approach hides real differences in health outcomes,
poverty rates, education access, and public services.
It makes it impossible to distribute resources equitably or design
programs that actually
meet people where they are. By requiring the Department of Family and
Support Services and the Chicago Department of Public Health to annually
collect and publicly report disaggregated data across
specific Asian and Pacific Islander subcategories, this ordinance
will finally give the city the accurate information it needs.
Better data means better services, better access, and better outcomes for
families across Chicago. We especially appreciate that this is
not a temporary pilot or limited to certain programs.
The ordinance establishes a consistent, ongoing data
disaggregation across these two key departments.
That permanence is essential for long-term accountability and real policy
change. When any community is made invisible in the data, we
all lose. Accurate, disaggregated data is a cornerstone of
equitable governance and justice for every Chicago resident.
We urge for you to pass this ordinance without delay.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Tharin Suarez.
Good morning. I'd like to thank the Committee on Health and Human Relations for
holding this hearing and Alderman Nicole Lee for her leadership in introducing this
ordinance. My name is Tharin Suarez, and I'm a resident of the 11th
Ward and Director of Marketing Communication at the Chinese American Service
League, a social services agency that serves primarily
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
residents in Chicago and beyond.
I'm the daughter of Filipino immigrants.
My father served 24 years in the US Navy and worked
late-night shifts at McDonald's between deployments to keep food on the table.
We relied on WIC, and my mom stayed home because she did not feel comfortable
speaking English. We are a military family, an immigrant family,
a working-class family, and by most systems' definitions, we were
simply just Asian.
I'm a native English speaker, but in the second grade,
I was placed in ESL classes because I looked different and the system made an
assumption, and that's what happens when data is too blunt.
When systems collapse 50 plus ethnicities into one single
checkbox, they lose the ability to see what is actually being missed.
Disaggregated data gives the city the ability to target outreach to
underserved communities, design culturally appropriate
services, and direct resources where the need is actually the
highest, not where it's easiest to see.That's better for
residents and better for the city's return on every dollar invested in health,
education, and human services. But this only works if
data collection is consistent. A one-time data poll tells
you what a population looks like now, but it cannot tell you whether a
program is reaching who it's supposed to reach.
The AANHPI population across the city is growing
and changing, and you need data year over year to detect
those trends and respond to them. When preparing CASL's own
impact report, the full story of how groups within the
AANHPI community have grown and changed couldn't be told
because the city's data collection has not been consistent enough over the years.
That limits what nonprofits can report in grant applications.
When we can't rely on data, we rely on anecdotes, and anecdotes don't
pay the bills. The ordinance requires CDPH and
DFSS to collect and publish detailed demographic data consistently,
which creates a foundation for evidence-based policy for years to come.
Please support this ordinance. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Xiang Li.
Good morning, Chairs and the City Council members.
As a first-generation immigrant,
it's my honor to be here today.
My name is Xiang Li, and I serve as the Manager of
Citizenship and Adult Education at the Chinese American Service
League,
where I work closely with immigrants, refugees, and
underserved communities across Chicago.
I'm here today to strongly support the Data
Disaggregation Ordinance
because accurate and detailed data is
essential to effectively serving the populations I work with every
day.
Through my work, I see firsthand how broad
demographic categories often fail to capture the
unique barriers faced by diverse immigrant
communities, particularly among Asian-American,
refugee, and limited English proficient
populations.
When communities are grouped together without meaningful
distinctions,
critical disparities in language access, educational
attainment, and workforce development can remain
invisible.
For organizations like us,
disaggregated data is vital to designing
programs that truly meet community needs.
Whether we are providing citizenship preparation, English language
preparation, or supportive services, better data
allows us to identify service gaps,
allocate resources more effectively, and advocate for
policies that reflect the realities of the populations we
serve.
This ordinance is about more than data collection.
It is about equity, access, and ensuring that all
communities are represented in policy decisions.
It empowers educators, service providers, and the government
leaders to make informed choices that strengthen
opportunities for historically underserved communities.
By passing this ordinance,
Chicago can lead with transparency and accountability while
building a more inclusive future for all.
So I respectfully urge you to support the Data
Disaggregation Ordinance.
Thank you for your time and commitment to our communities.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Larry
Leopoldo.
Good morning, dear chair members of the Committee on Health and
Human Relations. My name is Larry Leopoldo, and I'm
speaking on behalf of Circa Pintig, a Chicago-based
Filipino-American community arts organization
rooted in immigrant communities.
As a Change Insight partner, we appreciate the
opportunity to support the proposed Data
Disaggregation Ordinance, adding new Chapter 2-41,
and we urge the committee to advance this important measure.
Through our work with Filipino, Asian-American, immigrant artists,
youth, and families, we see firsthand how
aggregated race and ethnicity data fails to reflect
the distinct realities within Asian-American and Pacific
Islander communities.
When our communities are grouped into a single category,
disparities in health access, language needs,
economic stability, and exposure to harm are
often overlooked.
This lack of visibility directly impacts how
resources are allocated
and whether culturally specific organizations are recognized
and supported.
So our partnership with Change Insight reflects a shared commitment to ensuring
communities are accurately represented in the data that shapes
public policy. Disaggregated data is essential to
understanding who is being reached and who is not by
public health systems and community investments.
As an arts organization, we also see how culturally
grounded storytelling contributes to health and wellness.
We have worked with community artists who use dance,
music, visual art to process trauma,
to respond to anti-Asian violenceand
create spaces of healing and connection,
particularly for immigrants who may distrust
or lack access to traditional services.
These efforts are effective because they are culturally specific,
yet they are often under-recognized in systems that rely
on incomplete data.
We also see a strong alignment between this ordinance and the
Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History,
otherwise known as the TEACH Act, which affirms the importance
of inclusive representation.
This aggregated data is
a necessary companion to this work, ensuring that our communities
are visible not only in classrooms, but also in public health
policy and practice.
We commend Alderperson Nicole Lee and the Chinese American
Service League for their leadership,
and we respectfully urge the committee to support this
ordinance so that all Chicago communities are seen, counted,
and served.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Kushana Harris.
Ms. Harris?
Hello.
Good morning. My name is Kushana Harris, and I already had the pleasure
to meet with your wonderful chairwoman, Ms. Rosetta.
We had a great conversation, and she supports this
project wholeheartedly, and I am honored to
introduce myself to the rest of this council today.
So,
as the Council for Human and Health Relations, your purpose is
to foster wellbeing, dignity, and health of our residents,
which makes you guys a critical partner in this
preventative care action.
This sanitation system is about far more than hygiene.
It's about preventing illness, restoring dignity, and supporting
national stability.
Access to clean water and basic sanitation was vital in my
own path to healing. By addressing this gap, we not only lower healthcare
costs and--
Excuse
me.
By
addressing this gap, we not only lower healthcare costs, but also foster a
sense of being and humane. Although the facility will
be located in Bronzeville, right across from the Chicago police
headquarters, it will serve all of Chicagoland, creating a
safe and dignified space that bridges gaps between public safety and
essential care. I humbly ask for your support and approval in this
vital city project. And additionally, the sanitation
system will serve as a vital hub connecting diverse
community organizations and city services.
By integrating resources such as job training, healthcare, and housing
support, we create a cohesive safety net.
This will bridge gaps, reduce fragmentations, and ensure
individuals have streamlined pathways to stability.
In short, basically, it's about breaking down silos and
fostering true, connected, resilient communities.
Thank you guys so much, and I hope you guys take consideration
about this project of sanitation, because it will integrate all of the
programs that we have to offer here in Chicago.
All of the systems will connect because we are segregated, and as a unit, we should
come together to tie everything in.
So I think I came with something to loop us in, so I hope you guys are behind me on
this. Thank you. It was an honor, and my birthday tomorrow.
Thank you so much.
Our next speaker is Thi Nguyen.
Good morning.
Dear committee chair and members of the committee, thank you for having me here
today. My name is Tina Nguyen. I've lived in Chicago for 25 years,
and I'm raising my family in Rogers Park.
I'm also the vice president of Impact and Advocacy at CASL, and representing CASL.
I'm here because what gets measured get resourced, and
currently, our city data practices are leaving many Asian-American,
Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities unseen.
We know that disaggregated AANHPI data helps city
agencies deliver services that are accurate, accountable,
and equitable. AANHPI communities are growing in
Chicago, and now make up roughly 8% of the city's
population. However, city systems still collapse
AANHPI residents into a single category or broad categories
of Asian or AAPI. That erases real
differences in health outcomes, income, education,
and language access across 50-plus ethnic groups and
100-plus languages. When we blur those differences, we
misdiagnose the problem.
Disaggregated data tells a story and provides insights.
It can help you ask the right questions about a community that was previously
hidden. Without it, disparities stay hidden and
agencies can't target outreach, allocate resources
fairly, or track what's working. As a
first-generation immigrant from a refugee family from Vietnam, we actually grew up
in Iowa,
I believe I have some insights into the challenges our AANHPI communities
face.
That's why I'm asking you to pass the ordinance as proposed,
requiring DFSS and CDPH to disaggregate
AHIPI data across at least the 10 largest ethnic groups for
each subcategory of Asian American groups with privacy
safeguards and community input.
Please ensure this ordinance is passed and implemented in a way that makes
every community count. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Our next speaker is April Roche.
Good morning. My name is April Roche, and I'm a community member deeply
invested in accurate representation for our Asian American, Native
Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander members.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
I want to convey my full support for the AA and HPI data
disaggregation ordinance that Alderwoman Lee has proposed in its
full and permanent form. It is essential that the City of
Chicago lead the charge in obtaining granular level data for
AA and HPI community members so that they can be best represented
and served within the city.
Formalizing data disaggregation within the Chicago Department of Public
Health and the Department of Family and Support Services is a critical first
step, but it cannot be the last. This ordinance must establish
a citywide precedent that requires every department at every level
of city government to collect and report accurately disaggregated
data.
Data collection and analysis take time to identify trends and
implement real change. A piecemeal approach will produce
incomplete data that undermines the very equity goals that this
ordinance seeks to achieve.
A 2019 national study found that aggregated data among
Asian Americans and non-Hispanic whites appeared to have similar rates of
type 2 diabetes. However, disaggregated data revealed that
South Asians have a diabetes prevalence nearly double
that of non-Hispanic whites. The same study
found that Asian Americans were often under-diagnosed for diabetes,
in part because aggregated data created the misperception that they were
not a high-risk group. That is why this is so
important, that the city treats data disaggregation as the foundational
infrastructure that it is, not a one-time box to check.
My ask is to please promote data disaggregation, not only for
equitable service, but to increase fiscal responsibility.
Ensuring that resources are directed towards populations that need them most is
essential.
For this work, it must be uniform, mandatory, and enduring across
all city agencies.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Amira Daoud.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Amira Daoud, and I'm here to speak about the
resolution to release Salah Sarsour.
I'm here today not as a politician or organizer, but as someone who
personally knows the kind of man that he is.
To many in our community, Salah is more than a headline.
He is someone people have relied on for years.
I've known Salah since I was a little girl.
His presence in my life began as a ammu, or uncle.
Then he became a role model, a mentor, and later a colleague.
He's the kind of person who remembers people, checks on families, and treats
everyone with kindness and respect.
Even in the middle of his busiest moments, uplifting and bringing our community
together in the fight for justice for the right of Palestinians, he would
stop to ask about my son. No matter the situation, if someone asked
him a question, he would stop, smile, listen, and answer with sincerity.
He is a man who taught me how to work hard, how to lead, and how to
persevere through stressful times, especially when we watched a
live genocide of our people.
As a child, I remember feeling safe around him.
As an adult, I now recognize that what I was witnessing was
integrity. His absence has left a gap in our community
far bigger than many can imagine. The heartbreak our community
feels is louder than any words we could say.
He is a family man, but also someone who has truly dedicated his
life to serving others and uplifting his community.
He is the model of goodness, citizenship, responsibility, and humbleness.
Yet he was abducted by ICE because of his voice.
He was targeted because of his power to bring people together.
We, as a people, cannot stand by while the best of us are taken.
I urge this council to support this resolution and stand on the side of justice,
compassion, dignity, and humanity. We need to bring Ammu Salah home.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Jordan Esperanza Kelly.
And the last speaker is going to be Alex Montgomery, so be close to the
mic after.
Hello. How's it going, y'all? Good morning.
Hello.
I come here today in full support of resolution
R2026-0024891,
calling for the immediate release of Salah Sarsour and the protection of
immigrant rights. Communities across America continue to struggle with federally
sanctioned kidnappings from Chicago to Milwaukee, Atlanta,
LA, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Colorado.
While I'm in favor of the resolution, I also understand that it is simply a value
statement, and unfortunately, values have been stated far and
wide. Yet the urgent and necessary action needed in this
moment is practically vacant.
Today, we are here to advocate for Salah Sansour, a man who
has diligently served his community for over 25 years,
kidnapped from his family and community for fictitious reasons,
truly proving that none of this is merit-based.
However, not everyone has the community spanning across states and
continents that Salah does, and this reckless behavior from the federal
government is too far gone. The City of Chicago must move
swiftly, aggressively, and litigiously to stand up against the
malice of the Fed. We've heard your values, and now the burden of proof
lies upon you, the City of Chicago officials and agencies, to
act on those values and fight for the people.
Coordinate with our state's federal officials, along with the governor, to put
your values into motion.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. Alex Montgomery is our last speaker.
Good morning, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today.
My name is Alex Montgomery, and I'm here to speak in support of the AANHPI
data disaggregation ordinance. I have been working with
immigrant communities in Chicago for two decades.
I have seen firsthand the struggles and successes of immigrant families
from different backgrounds as they do their best to make their way in America.
I'm also an expert in nonprofit operations, which means I'm an expert
in organizing complex systems and information.
Currently, I am one of the leaders of the Change Insight initiative at Chinese
American Service League, where we work with immigrant-serving nonprofits across the
country to collect data on the unique communities they serve.
When working with these nonprofits, I'm often met with hesitance about the
process. They worry about the workload and assume that anything related to data
is too technical for them to handle.
But like I tell my daughter when she's doing her math homework, it actually is
so easy, it seems hard. This data disaggregation ordinance
before you today is asking for something simple, but with a big impact.
It's asking for forms to be updated to allow those who fill them out
to more accurately identify their race and ethnicity.
With this simple change, the city will be able to collect data on many
communities that are now invisible on those forms.
Today, someone filling out the city form may have to check Asian
instead of Filipino or Vietnamese.
Not only does that stop this person from accurately identifying, it
also means the city does not know what community that person is from.
Understanding the communities that are using city services, not just where they
live, but their language and culture, could lead to more efficient and
cost-effective decisions by the city in how to deploy
their precious resources. It's important to know the difference between these
communities in terms of who they are and what they need.
The aggregation of AANHPI communities has led to their erasure in
data sets. But with the passage of this ordinance, Chicago can make
visible the diversity of our wonderful city while also becoming
more efficient and productive with its resources.
I urge you to pass this amendment. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments.
The time allotted for public comment has expired.
We conclude the public comment period.
In addition to today's comments, our committee received 36 written comments that
were forwarded to members via email.
Our first item of business is the approval of the Rule 45 report.
Can I get a motion to approve the March 2026 Rule 45 report?
So moved by Alderman Quezada. All those in favor
signify by saying aye. Opposed say nay.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
Our first matter today is ordinance
2025-0021028, which was
introduced by Alderwoman Nicole Lee as an amendment of Municipal Code Title
2 by adding new Chapter 2-41 to
require the Department of Public Health to annually collect race and ethnicity data
of city residents using subcategories for Asian or Pacific Islander.
The committee has been notified there is a substitute for this item.
Alderwoman, would you like to provide context about the substitute?
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Chair.
And thank you for having this on the agenda today.
The substitute that is before the committee now
made some changes to the original version.
We are no longer making an amendment to Municipal Code Title
2 by adding a new chapter. After some review by the law
department,
and some additional conversation with departments, this is just going to be
a change. It's a non-codified change
to the practice of these two departments.
Ray, if you wouldn't mind,
if you can give a little background about why it's not an amendment to the
Municipal Code, because I think that's important for everybody to understand.
Point of information, Chair.
Oh, sure.
Go ahead, Alderman Lopez.
Which substitute are we looking at? I'm sorry.
There's-
There's a red line and a pink version
... it's all black and...
Is it the one-page or the two-page substitute?
The second page is supposed to be the red line.
Do you see it?
Oh. So just that one?
Yeah.
Apologies.
Ray's going to talk about the-
Yeah, go ahead, Ray.
Good
morning.
Morning.
Ray Filipsanto on behalf of the Chicago's Department of Law.
The
substitute ordinance
that
is before me,
and
will be before you,
addresses two
programs,
one from DFSS, one from CDPH.
And as it is a discrete ordinance regarding these programs
and the data collection therein,
it's more appropriate for this to be an uncodified ordinance.
It still has, of course, all of the
authority of an ordinance, but
since it's not of general applicability, it
Its place in the municipal code is
probably not necessary at this point.
Thank you. And then I'll just continue here.
Okay.
I just wanted to get that on the record. Thank you, Chair.
You heard from all of the public speakers today
the importance of disaggregated data in the Asian-American,
Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community.
I think one of the most important jobs we have as elected officials
is to make sure people are seen and heard.
And this
ordinance does that, and it's a start.
We have worked with DFSS, as well as
CDPH to identify programs which
we feel strongly are the best places to start
collecting this data. It's by no means meant to be the only thing that
we do, because we feel strongly that disaggregated data
will help the city writ large, not just the Asian-American Pacific
Islander, Native Hawaiian community.
But it is something that our community has been very focused on
to ensure that we are providing the most
specific and efficient
services that we can to each of these individual communities, which do get lumped
into this sort of monolithic moniker.
So I'm really proud to have worked today with the Chinese American Service
League on this. The substantive changes to
the
ordinance really is that it's no longer an
amendment to the municipal code, and it identifies specifically the programs
from DFSS and CDPH that will be subject
to the disaggregation.
Thank you, Alderwoman Lee. I'm going to move to accept the
substitute, and then you can introduce your guests, and we
will have a substantial discussion on the
item. Can I get a motion to accept the
substitute for the ordinance? Alderperson
Fuentes
so move. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed say nay.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
Alderwoman, would you like to get us started with any remarks and introduce your
guests?
Yes, I would love to. And thank you again.
There's not much more I can say besides what was said so eloquently by all of our
public speakers this morning. But we also have some subject matter experts
with us from the Chinese American Service League, which is,
I think it's the largest social service agency
in the Midwest. And it serves not only Asian Americans,
but people of all races and across 50 wards.
So I'm so proud to have them here with us today.
We have
David
Li,
sorry, coffee's not kicking in yet, and Lisa Wright, who are here with
us today. They're going to be talking to us about the work that
they do at CASL with a program called Change Insight.
I'm so glad that we've got the time with this committee and before the council on
the record today. It's a really wonderful initiative that you'll hear more about.
But as I sat here listening to the public comments and thinking about what this
ordinance is doing, Change Insight, how are we
viewing and how are we looking at these communities?
So with that, I'm going to hand it over to Lisa, who's going to kick us off,
and then we'll be happy to take questions afterwards.
Thank you so much.
Good morning.
My name is Lisa Wright. I am the director of government affairs and
advocacy at the Chinese American Service League, or
what's also known as CASL.
We're a nonprofit that serves over 7,400 people
across Chicagoland and Cook County.
We've also seen a significant growth, over 200% growth in
the number of Black African Americans, Latinos that seek our
services. Thank you for the opportunity to partake today,
and thank you, Alderwoman Lee, for your leadership in introducing this important
ordinance.
I strongly support this ordinance and urge the committee and city council to
advance this crucial effort. This is not
a new concept.
Many states and cities such as New York, New Jersey,
California, Connecticut, have already adopted similar
data disaggregation policies. For example,
New York City is required to disaggregate race and ethnicity
data across seven city agencies
currently, including for AA and HBI communities, and the
fiscal impact statement was $0.
In Chicago, as you've already heard, AANHPIs
are a fastest-growing
population with a 31% growth since 2010.
AANHPIs live in every single Chicago ward, with
the 11th Ward having the largest number of approximately 20,000.
That's 36% of the total 11th Ward population.
And I just want to share a couple more wards so everybody knows
how this ordinance could really help other wards.
In the 42nd Ward,
22% of residents identify as AANHPI.
In the 50th Ward, 21% identify as AANHPI,
and then 20% in the 39th Ward, 17%
in the 25th Ward under Alderman Sigcho-Lopez, member
of the committee, 16% in the 40th Ward,
13% in the 48th Ward under Alderwoman Manel
Lappenworth, member of the committee, 11% in the 12th Ward
under Alderwoman Ramirez, vice chair of the committee, 10% in the 4th
Ward under Alderperson Robinson, member of the committee, and
33rd Ward under the chair of the committee.
So we live in many wards and
have a
voice.Although
in Chicago
we have over 700,000 AANHPIs, there's
currently no standardized and consistent data
disaggregation across city agencies or the programs.
Some programs collect this information, some agencies do, but
there is no standardized consistent practice.
So this could conceal disparities in health, income, education, access to
public services. For instance, the national average
uninsured rate for AANHPIs is 5.5%,
but it's four times higher for Mongolians at 21%.
About 10 to 15% of AANHPIs live in poverty, but
some subgroups face higher poverty rates, such as 33% in
Burmese and 26% in the Bangladesh residents.
So as some of you have heard, there are solutions to this, like
this ordinance. CASL has a national initiative called the Change Insight
initiative, through which we've been disaggregating AANHPI data for
five years.
Change Insight brings together some community-based organizations across the
country
to use disaggregate demographic, social, and health data to better serve the
population. For Chicago, the most practical and
efficient approach would be to integrate this step into
DFSS and CDPH's existing intake
process, rather than creating a new one or a new survey.
The city already collects demographic data.
The city agencies could include a drop-down menu with AANHPI
ethnicity specified in the ordinance,
or other existing systems and
forms. This also keeps the implementation costs low.
So this ordinance simply creates a consistent standard so that
information can be compared across groups and an action plan to
better allocate the city's precious resources.
My colleague David Lee will go into best practices, so I'll pass it over to him.
Thank you.
Thank you, Lisa, and as Jerry said, it is a wonderful day.
So
good morning, committee members.
My name is David Lee, and I am the community data strategist
at CASL, focusing on Change Insight, which you see over
here. The Change Insight initiative works with community-based
organizations, otherwise known as CBOs, nationwide to collect,
organize, and interpret data on Asian American Native
Hawaiian Pacific Islander service populations.
Try saying that five times fast. I have tried.
And especially those underrepresented in public data sets.
And I just want to first off say that if you're
a child of immigrants like I am, you belong.
So
I want to be very clear about what this ordinance actually asks for.
It's not asking the city to launch a new data
collection project.
It's asking the city to add a few more race and ethnicity options to forms
it already uses
so that all Chicagoans have the opportunity to identify themselves more
accurately.
Data is simply organized information.
DFSS and CDPH already collect demographic information through
intake, eligibility forms, surveys, clinic
registration, and public health reporting.
The issue isn't that the city doesn't collect detailed
race or ethnicity information. In fact, it does.
The issue is that the approach is rather inconsistent.
Some forms use broad categories, some go into greater
detail, and some reports aggregate groups in
ways that are really confusing to understand.
Without a shared standard, it becomes hard to understand which
AANHPI communities are being served, who is being missed,
and where those services should change.
In fact, the city is already moving in this direction.
The DFSS child support eligibility intake form
already allows clients to self-identify, check as many
categories as apply, and includes categories
such as South Asian and Middle Eastern or North African.
It also collects information on health insurance, limited English proficiency,
primary language spoken, services needed, and housing
status.
Some CDPH data workflows also
include granular AANHPI
categories in at least some of the contexts.
So this demonstrates that the infrastructure is already there.
This ordinance would make that kind of detail more consistent
across the board.
Now, I'm going to see if I can make technology work for us
today. Great.
So what we're proposing is a continuation of what already exists in
some forms.
So I don't know where the...
So as you can see, oh.
As you can see in the left over here,
if someone selects Asian,
Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, this form would
include additional subgroup categories.
Take a look at the right over here. These are the proposed
ones in the substitute.
All while stating if that responses are voluntary and don't affect
eligibility.
So how's disaggregation affect, per se, civic
engagement?
A recent analysis from one of our Change Insight partners, the South Asian
American Policy and Research Institute, otherwise known as SAAPRI,
shows what subgroup visibility looks like in
practiceSAPRI estimates that there are
27,056 South Asian voting eligible
residents in Chicago with concentrations in wards such as the
39th, 40th, 48th and 50th.
That same report also found that
20% of South Asian
voting eligible residents had access to South Asian language
assistance in the 2024 election.
Expanding that kind of assistance to 41 additional precincts, shown here
in blue,
would have increased that coverage to over
50%. Those same lessons apply to service operations.
When subgroup data is standardized, agencies can compare where communities
are, where services are available, and where gaps remain.
Looking at Change Insight, we see something similar across individual
subgroups.
With nearly 6,000 responses recorded
in our Chicago sample over the last four
years,
the aggregate rate of housing instability was 14%.
Now disaggregated, Filipino respondents reported housing
instability at nearly 25%,
compared with about 6% of Pakistani respondents.
The aggregate uninsured rate was 7%.
When disaggregated, Pakistani and Asian Indian respondents
show higher uninsured rates than that of their Chinese and Korean
counterparts.
Transportation barriers affected about
19% of respondents who answered. But again,
once you break it down, Pakistani respondents had a rate of nearly
25%, compared with about 13% among
Filipino counterparts. From the most recent data
collection year, the contrasts become even clearer.
Among two of our most populous samples, as you can see here,
Chinese and Korean, Chinese respondents report
unmet housing needs at 12%, whereas for Korean
respondents, that figure's nearly doubled.
Chinese respondents also report unmet legal needs at
3%, whereas that figure jumps to 24% for our
Korean counterparts.
It's not just simply that Chinese and Korean respondents have different
needs. We can clearly see that. It's about understanding how
common these needs are in those communities, knowing where they
show up,
and then actively working with community-based
organizations that understand these
community groups and the cultural context needed to respond
effectively. Consistent subgroup data gives
departments a clear comparison across programs.
It helps show which communities aren't
appearing across housing benefits, health insurance, behavioral
health, survivor services, or workforce supports,
and where those responses need to be more specific.
Through Change Insight, CASL and our partners have already
put this into practice. We've standardized race and
ethnicity categories, 102 in fact, multilingual
tools, community-based administration, and analysis that
shows differences hidden in aggregate data.
Mind you, all of this is determined from our partner organizations
such as Rizal and Circa Pintig, who shared their public comments
earlier.
This ordinance would create a consistent standard for the information the city
already collects,
and I just want to wrap up by saying thank you for your time and consideration.
Thank you so much for your remarks.
Now we're going to have some time for questions.
Anybody has questions on this item?
Comments?
No?
All right, so can I get a motion to approve ordinance
2025-0021028 as substituted?
Alder Person Fuentes so move. All those in favor
signify by saying aye.
Opposed say nay. In the opinion of the chairs, the ayes have it, and I will
report these to passed recommendation at the upcoming city council meeting.
Thank you everybody so much, and thank you Alderwoman Lee for this work.
Thank you.
Next, we will consider resolution
2026-0024891, which was
introduced by Chair Sigcho-Lopez and Alderman Quezada and
me as a resolution to call on US Department of Homeland Security and US Immigration
and Customs Enforcement to immediately release Salazar Suar and to ensure
safeguarding of immigrant rights and prevention of further abuses of power on
immigration enforcement.
Chairman Sigcho-Lopez, would you like to get us started with any remarks and
introduce your guests?
Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman.
And
I am grateful for us to be able to take
a look at this
case among the many across the country, and way too many people
that continue to be detained illegally and unconstitutionally
by this federal government.
I want to start by prefacing that there
are over 70,000 people today that have been detained
illegally by the federal government without the due process.
And the normalization of the criminalization and
dehumanization of people in our country should
never be met with silence. When truth
becomesA death sentence. When
speaking the truth becomes illegal, we know that we are living
during authoritarian regimes that need to be met with
courage and integrity. So I'm grateful to have the opportunity to
talk briefly about this case of Salah Sarsour.
Salah Sarsour is a lawful permanent resident for
32 years in the United States,
period.
There's no reason for us to be looking at
fictitious charges, fictitious allegations
without any proof, and the immorality of an Israel
genocidal state to now dictating who can walk
freely in our country and who cannot.
That's why this case is so important for us,
just as we touch in this committee the shameful detention
of Mahmoud Khalil, and we are grateful that he was freed
after
the movement of the people.
Mr. Salah Sarsour has been a lawful permanent resident for 32
years
in our country. He was the president of
the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.
He's a father, a grandfather, a husband, and a deeply
loved leader in our community who had deep ties also in
connections with our Chicagoland area.
I would like to also emphasize
on how we must always denounce racial profiling
and the detention of people that are speaking truth to power and
empowering building strong communities throughout the country. Mr.
Salah Sarsour should be praised for his efforts.
There's no reason to keep him in detention.
He's been detained since March 30th of this year.
We denounce that racial profiling.
We continue to denounce assassinations of American citizens,
residents, and human beings in plain broadside, and we denounce
the detention of over 30,000 children in detention camps.
We denounce and we're grateful that finally there has been an investigation
after months of denouncing the assassination of Silverio Villegas González.
We are grateful that that investigation finally is taking place, and that
is why it's important that we speak truth to power.
The cases of Mahmoud Khalil, the cases of Salah Sarsour, and
many others should be denounced and should be challenged.
And that is why I'm grateful, Chairwoman, that you have allowed us to have this
conversation, because this is an illegal detention, and it
sends a chilling effect of freedom of speech and the
constitutional right of residents to speak their minds.
Finally, we will be demanding, of course, that not only
Salah Sarsour is released, but we demand the immediate release of all people
illegally detained, all children who are continued to be in detention camps,
as we see the connections with an industrial complex that makes
money out of innocent people and continue to put children,
destroying families and innocent people.
This case is an iconic case, but it's a lot of all these cases that continue
to see in the country. That's why this important case of someone who is deeply
loved by our community and should be free immediately.
Now I would like to introduce a family member
of Mr. Salah Sarsour. Before we start the committee, I would
like to
introduce the first guest. Thank you so much, Chairwoman.
Can you introduce yourself?
Yes. Thank you. Thank you for having me today.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak up.
My name is Kareem Sarsour. I am Salah Sarsour's oldest son.
Salah Sarsour is a man that came to this country as an immigrant and chose this
country to be home to his wife and children.
He is a son. He is a brother, a husband,
a father, a grandfather. He is serving his second term as the
president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the largest in Wisconsin.
He is a businessman. He is a community pillar. He is a man of faith.
Salah Sarsour
worked very hard to make sure that all his kids are college graduates
and are giving back to his community.
What took place on March 30th
took our life's honesty to an unexpected turn.
Salah Sarsour,
as he was leaving his home, he was abducted and taken
away to what we believe is a hellhole
of a detention center. A man that gave so much to his community and
to his family and served his entire life to help
people.
He
has always been a voice for the voiceless.
He was taken away because he
was speaking up against the Israeli crimes and the genocide that took place in
Gaza, Palestine.
A man like Salah Sarsour, someone who worked this hard for his
community, for his family, needs to be celebrated,
not taken away to a detention center when he has been here
legally, as he mentioned, for over 32 years, a
law-abiding legal resident.
We are asking here today, we are asking for something that shouldn't be asked to
begin with. We're asking for Salah Sarsour's
immediate release from the ICE center and to put a
stop on these attacks. As an American, what took place on March
30th was an attack on every family, every community, every
city, and to our Constitution. This needs to stop,
and we need to make sure that we are a step closer to ending
this and to demand his immediate release from the ICE detention
center. Thank you.
Thank you so much for coming to testify.
I will open space now for questions.
I don't know if Alderman Quistava, you have any remarks?
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Salah Sarsour has never been found guilty of any crimes
recognized by any courts of the United Nations.
This is a clearly politically targeted attack on
advocates and leaders for Palestinian liberation,
and against... political leaders who have been
calling out the Trump administration and the weaponization of immigration
enforcement in this way should be a chilling effect
towards the civil rights, the First Amendment rights that are guaranteed to every
single person in our country. So I stand in full
solidarity with Salah's family, with the community out in Milwaukee,
and demand his immediate release. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Alderman Siccho Lopez, do you have any other comments?
No. My
prayers and my full solidarity as a father, as an immigrant, I
think I see every day how our communities get torn
apart. This racial profiling, this attack on First Amendment
rights with fictitious charges should never be normalized, never
excused. And to the family and all the neighbors who
know the impact, my full solidarity or commitment that we will
free them all. Thank you, Chairwoman.
Thank you. Chairman. Yeah, I also want to speak in
solidarity with Mr. Sarsour.
What we have seen happen in this country and in our city
has been horrifying.
We are still getting calls in our offices every day from
family members who are losing
people that are still being abducted.
We are not seeing the same mass
actions that we were seeing under Operation
Midway Blitz,
but we are still seeing people being taken from our communities.
And
we have to remember that when we allow for this to be done
to one human being, we are opening the door for
it to be done to anybody.
We have seen how citizens have been taken.
I have witnessed myself,
CBP and ICE coming into a community and grabbing people who are
working outside without even asking for a name,
without
asking for any information.
And we know what that means and we know where we have
seen this before, and we
have to repeat that this can never happen again.
So I do urge my colleagues to vote in support of
this resolution. Alderman Lopez.
Thank you, Chairman.
I call quorum.
There has been a quorum call made. I am going to call the
roll one more time.
Vice Chair Ramirez.
Alderman Robinson.
Alderman Yancy.
Alderwoman Gutierrez.
Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Siccho Lopez.
Alderwoman Fuentes.
Alderwoman Cruz.
Alderman Quezada.
Alderman Lawson.
Alderwoman Hoppenworth.
Alderwoman Hadden.
Chairwoman Rodriguez Sanchez.
I have five members present.
We do not have a quorum.
Alderman Lopez.
Then I move to adjourn, because that's the only option we have left to do.
I am going to
call a recess at this moment. We're going to
be on recess for the next five minutes, and we're going to come back. Thank you.
Did you happen to hear my update with those folks? No.
So we have a couple alders that are coming back,
and at that point, we should have our quorum back in order to proceed.
Folks had to step out because the meeting is late, and it's now overlapping with
other commitments. Okay. We're doing our work together. Thank you.
Should I stay here? Do you want me to stay here until- It is- How long is it going
to take them to come back?
We're told 10 minutes they'll be back. Okay.
If you would rather sit with your friends and family, please do that, and
we can call you back up.
I can stay. Yeah. If that's fine. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
We are back from recess.
After trying to get our colleagues back, it doesn't seem
like we're going to be able to have quorum, so we have a motion on the floor
to adjourn.
Can I get a...
I already have a motion to adjourn. Yeah.
Well,
we don't have quorum, so it's...
There is a motion on the floor for
adjournment, and we don't have quorum.
Chairwoman.
Who said Chairwoman?
It's Alderwoman Gutierrez. Is there any way we can recess this
meeting for rescheduling in an hour?
There is a motion on the floor for adjourning.
This is Alderwoman Hadden. Can I move to lay that motion on the
table?
We don't have enough quorum to be able to vote on this, so the
only option that we have at this moment is adjourning, and we are
going to set a newdate
for a meeting. So do we have a date?
Quick question, Chairwoman.
Yes, go ahead, Alderwoman Hadden.
Even including those of us participating remotely, we don't get that?
Unfortunately, we need people present in the chamber to be
able to count for a new quorum call, and we already did
that.
Got you.
So we do not have quorum.
We are going to adjourn this meeting now, and
we have a new date.
We are going to reconvene here for a new
committee meeting on May 19th at
12:30 PM at
201A, where we will continue
discussing the current item.
Go ahead, Alderman Casarosa.
Can you read into the record who called for the motion of adjournment and
quorum call during the item?
The motion was
presented by
Alderman Ramon Lopez after we
voted on the last item
with the same quorum call.
So for the record, that is what happened.
We have a motion to adjourn.
We don't have enough people to vote for that, but the
only option is adjourning, so I am going to adjourn this meeting.
The meeting on
the Committee on Health and Human Relations is now adjourned.