Yeah, so.
Oh, go ahead.
Okay. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for the Committee
on Health.
Thank you, guys.
Committee on Health and Human Relations meeting.
It's 1:05 on May 19th, 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.
Yeah, that's what I figured. Okay. Alderman Robinson.
Alderman Yancy.
Alderwoman Gutierrez.
Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Sigcho-Lopez. Alderwoman Fuentes.
Alderwoman Cruz. Alderman Quesada. Alderman Lawson.
Alderwoman Manau-Happenworth. Alderwoman Hadden.
Chair Rodriguez Sanchez,
and Vice Chair Julia Ramirez, present.
There are seven members present, and we have a quorum.
Okay.
We have a request for remote participation, citing Rule 59
from Alderwoman Cruz and Alderwoman Hadden.
Are they logged in, Jonathan?
Can I get a motion to approve the remote
participation of Alderpersons Cruz and
Hadden?
Alderperson Gutierrez so moves. All those in favor of
allowing remote participation of these alders, respond by saying "Aye."
All those opposed by saying "Nay." In the opinion of the chair,
the ayes have it.
We will begin our meeting with time for public comment.
This period is limited to 30 minutes, and each speaker is limited to three minutes.
We have
one person here for public comments.
So,
okay.
So first, I'm going to ask Amira.
Hello.
You can begin, Amira.
Good afternoon.
My name's Amira Daoud. I was here about two weeks ago, and
asked you all to stand on the side of justice and humanity and support
by supporting the call for the immediate release of Salah Sarsour.
I told you how Salah is not a threat to his community, he is the community.
And for 32 years, he lived here as a legally documented resident,
building a business, supporting schools, serving as the president of the Islamic
Society of Milwaukee, on the board of nonprofit organizations,
and investing in the people around him.
He is the kind of person we teach our children to become, hardworking, generous,
and deeply committed to the betterment of his community.
But here we are again now today,
49 days since his illegal abduction by ICE,
and his family still left in uncertainty and separation, and his
community missing their leader. Especially after yesterday's
horrific attack on a mosque in San Diego that killed three people,
our community needs its leaders. Salah's story is not the
only one. Across the country, we're seeing students, parents,
workers, and longtime residents taken away from their families and communities.
A CPS student, Ricardo Navarra, who was preparing to take his
final exams as a senior in high school and preparing to finish
school this year with dignity, and his mother, Lillian,
sought asylum here, but were abducted, separated, and taken across
state lines several times by ICE. Ricardo was even
put into solitary confinement as a young student.
These are not faceless statistics.
These are human beings with futures, responsibilities,
and people who love them and depend on them.
When people who contribute positively to society are suddenly removed from their
homes, schools, and communities, it sends a message of fear to all of us.
This resolution is about more than one man.
It's about the values we claim to stand for, human dignity, justice, and community.
And I urge you all to vote yes, and call for Salah's immediate release.
Thank you. Our next speaker is Jordan Esparza Kelly.
Good afternoon, committee.
I come here today in full support of resolution R
2026-0024891,
calling for the immediate release of Salah Sarsour and the protection
of immigrant rights. The dehumanization of
Muslims and the targeting of the Muslim community
leaders that is stoked by egregious comments from elected
officials are the reason immigrants at large,
Muslims and minorities,
are being attacked in our country right now.
Whether it is President Trump or Alderman Raymond Lopez, who
can't even make it to his own meeting,
the dehumanization of people has consequences.
Consequences that we saw play out in the San Diego
attack yesterday when two gunmen attacked
a mosque in a anti-Muslim hate crime.
We shouldn't be using federal, state, or local policy
failures to dehumanize entire populations of people.
And if elected officials such as yourselves and other council
members would stop avoiding the work of improving the policy,
perhaps the conditions here in America would be better for everyone.
Chicago should be proud to approve this resolution and denounce hate towards
communities and specific people, as it does not create a better environment for
anyone.
Lastly,
not only this committee, but other committees need to be organized better.
Last weekThis whole thing had to get moved
because of quorum issues, but then they voted on one thing and didn't vote
on the other, and it doesn't seem like people really have everything
together on this one. So this committee and
others need to organize themselves better. Thank you.
Awesome.
Thank you. And our final speaker is George Blakemore.
Good afternoon.
I'm looking
and I'm seeing no one of color, Black,
here.
I don't know
if it's a disconnect between the races
here in America,
and this disconnect, maybe you didn't reach out
to let any of the Black community know about this
meeting. Also, with the Human Rights Commission, in
our city, we have a Human
Rights, a Human Relation Commission.
Now they're up to have a Mr. Ken Gunn,
advocating that he get this position.
Previously, it was held by a Hispanic.
So it seem like to me,
it's going to continue to be a race issue
here in America. The Hispanics, the
Blacks, the
Muslim community, the Christians community.
So it's a disconnect here.
So I think that it's very important
for you all to reach out
to
all our 77 communities here in the city
of Chicago. And I see just
one white man here, and the other are Hispanics and
one Asian. I don't see any Blacks. So
is racism
alive here in this city?
And who is the chair? Why didn't you reach out
to the Human Relation Commission?
Because a part of their duties and
structure
deals with immigrants. They got a
whole commission that deals with this, and I'm appalled
to just see that you didn't notify them.
If you need any help with public relation and race relations,
you go to our Human Rights Commission.
It's over there on
State Street, right off of State Street.
They have staff, qualified staff.
And so we have to be able to talk to each other, to
relate to each other, if we're going to be good Americans.
Otherwise,
racism will always exist. Now,
what brings you here, Mr. Blakemore?
I wanted to see what was going on here, and I wanted to know
why is it that you didn't have a Chicago
Human Relation Commission here? And also, who has to
have one? Cook County has a human relation
commission. And who else? The State of Illinois have a human
relation commission. Why haven't you all connected
with-
Thank you to all of our speakers. There being no further speakers, in
addition to today's comments, our committee received zero written comments for
today's meeting. However, committee members did receive comments and supportive
materials from our meeting on May 7th, as this agenda is
reconvening that meeting. Our first item of business is the approval of the Rule
45 report. Can I get a motion to approve the May 7th, 2026 portion of the
monthly Rule 45 report?
So moved. Alderperson Mana Heppenworthal moves.
All those in favor of approving the May 7, 2026 Rule 45 report,
respond by saying "Aye." All those opposed by saying "Nay." In the opinion of
the chair, the ayes have it.
Chair Rodriguez Sanchez has requested that the next item,
R2026-0024919,
be held in committee due to her absence as sponsor.
Next, we will consider
R2026-0024891,
which was introduced by Chair Sigcho-Lopez, Chair Rodriguez Sanchez,
and Alderman Quesada, as a resolution to call on US Department of
Homeland Security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to
immediately release Salah Sarsour and to ensure
safeguarding of immigrant rights and prevention of further abuses of
power in immigration enforcement.
Chair Sigcho-Lopez, would you like to provide any remarks?
Thank you, Vice Chair Ramirez. This is an item that we already
spoke on. It was only held back when
Alderman Lopez called on quorum. So I just make a
motion to move on this item that was already discussed in last
committee meeting.
Are there any questions or comments from any other committee members?
So moved. Alderperson Gutierrez so moves.
All those in favor of accepting this item, respond by saying "Aye."
Aye.
All those opposed by saying "Nay." In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have
it. I will report this "do pass" recommendation at the
upcoming city council meeting.
With there being no further business before the committee, can I get a motion to
adjourn? Alderperson Quesada so moves.
Hearing no objection, so ordered.
The meeting of the Committee on Health and Human Relations is now adjourned.