Good morning.
The council will come to order. Madam Clerk or Mr.
Clerk, please take a quorum roll call.
The quorum roll call vote is now open.
Please register your attendance.
I will now begin calling the names of
of Alderman who have not registered.
Alderman Robinson. Alderman Robinson is present.
Alderman Mitchell. Alderman Mitchell is not present.
Alderperson Coleman. Alderperson Coleman is not present.
Alderperson O'Shea. Alderperson O'Shea is not present.
Alderperson Mosley. Alderperson Mosley is present.
Alderperson Tabares.
Alderperson Tabares is not present.
Alderperson Ervin. Alderperson Ervin is not present.
Alderperson Ramirez Rosa. Alderperson Ramirez
Rosa is present.
Alderperson Mitts.
Alderperson Mitts is not present.
Alderperson Knudsen.
Alderperson Knudsen is not present.
Alderperson Clay. Alderperson
Clay is not present.
There are 40 members present. We do have a quorum.
There are a number of alders
Alder Curtis and Taylor have requested
to participate in today's meeting remotely
for reasons stating the rule 59.
Can I get a motion to approve the remote participation
and have them added to the quorum?
It's been moved. All those in favor signify by saying aye.
Any opposed say no. In the opinion of the chair,
the ayes have it. Mr.
Clerk, please mark the alders participating remotely
Curtis and Taylor as present
as part of the quorum roll call.
Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I
pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.
Please remain standing.
I would like to invite Alderman David Moore
to the front to provide our invocation for today.
Deacon Alderman David Moore.
Thank you Mr. President. May we bow our heads please.
Our Lord our God,
how excellent is thy name in all this earth?
Oh Lord, we ask that you just come before us. Oh Lord.
And first of all, just thanking you, oh Lord,
for allowing us to wake up this morning
with breath in our bodies, oh Lord, so
that we can just get it right another day.
Oh Lord, I wanna thank you right now.
Oh Lord, for every individual that has come down, oh Lord,
to be heard, to be listened to,
and to get information to just better this city.
Oh Lord, we just ask
and thank you for every member of this council.
Continue to cover them in their communities. Oh Lord.
We ask that you cover our mayor from the crown of his head
to the sole of his feet, oh Lord.
To give him the direction that's following your,
leading your will and no one else's.
Oh Lord, in the mighty man of Jesus.
Lord, let us be productive today. Amen.
Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Mr.
Clerk, please read the call of today's special meeting.
The following call for a special meeting
of the city council was filed in the office
of the city clerk on Tuesday,
December 12th, 2023 at 9:57 AM
Clerk Valencia, we the undersigned, members
of the City Council of the City of Chicago,
the hereby call a special meeting of the City Council
of the city of Chicago to be convened on Thursday,
December 14th, 2023 at 10:00 AM. The special meeting is
for the following purposes
and for no other purpose whatsoever
for immediate consideration
of a resolution authorizing the following referendum
question to be submitted to the voters of the entire city
of Chicago for the determination if Chicago should continue
to keep its designation as a sanctuary city
resolution number R20230004224 signed
Anthony Beal Alderman 9th Ward, Raymond Lopez
Alderman 15th Ward, David Moore Alderman 17th Ward.
Thank you very much. This is the
portion of the meeting for public comments.
The council will now begin the public comment period,
which is limited to a maximum of 30 minutes.
Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
Speakers cannot yield
or transfer their time to another speaker.
Any written comments that have been submitted will be posted
and made available for automatic review.
Our first speaker today is Fred Sao.
Good morning. Good morning everyone.
I'm Fred Sao, Senior Policy Council with the Illinois Coalition
for American and Refugee Rights.
I wanna start my comments
with a quote from the last special meeting on November 2nd,
quote, Sanctuary City
or Welcoming Ordinance says nothing about we have
to provide services and goods.
Sanctuary city all it says is the city
of Chicago will not cooperate
or organize with the federal government to detain people,
to detain people to be deported.
End quote. This statement was made by one of the, one
of the council members who's trying
to repeal our welcoming city ordinance
and undermine Chicago status as a sanctuary city.
Now our city is facing challenges with the migrants
who have, who are being sent here
by cynical border state governors and others.
Yet here we are again in, you know,
instead targeting the welcoming city ordinance,
which in the alderman's own words has nothing to do
with these challenges.
The welcoming city ordinance
and its precursor executive orders have enabled hundreds
of thousands of Chicago residents
and their families to live in this city,
raise their families, go to school, start businesses,
make lives for themselves,
and create positive relationships with city governments.
Immigrant advocates
and allies like myself have worked too hard over the several
decades and through six mayoral administrations to win
and strengthen these protections.
Again, this ordinance has nothing to do with weather
or how the city provides shelter
and care for the migrants being, being sent to Chicago
and repealing the ordinance will do nothing
to stop the buses from coming to, from coming
or ends the end.
The need that the migrants present at best, these moves
to undermine the welcoming city ordinance are the result
of confusion and misdirection.
At worst, they are cynical ploys that are feeding on fear
and resentment, turning neighbors
and communities against each other and dividing our city.
They play into the hands of Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis,
Donald Trump, and everyone else
who would like nothing more than
to undo the progress the city has made and can make.
If we focus all with absolutely no assurance
that the buses will stop if we throw all
of these hard won gains away.
If we fall into this trap, shame on us.
Our city is better than that.
Instead of being distracted by questions that have nothing
to do with the real problems the city faces, we need
to come together to address not just the immediate
challenges of the migrants,
but also our long sad history of inequality
and disinvestment in our communities.
No matter when or how someone arrived in the city,
everyone belongs here and everyone should feel welcome
and be treated with dignity and respect
and anybody who needs help should be able
to get help no matter where they live
or when they got here. Thank you very
much for your comments.
Our next, our
Thank you.
Next speaker please. Our next
Speaker is Miwa Simokowa.
My name, my name is Miwa Simokowa
and I'm with Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Chicago and ICER
The welcoming city ordinance makes us all safer.
It provides, it provides reassurance
to immigrant communities that we can seek police protection
and city services without fear.
Repealing the welcoming ordinance would make Chicago's
immigrant population and all residents less safe.
It will sow further mistrust between communities,
communities of color, and police.
Meanwhile, it will do nothing
to stop the buses from the southern border from coming.
Indeed, the people arriving on the buses
as parolees asylum applicants
or people with temporarily protected status
are shielded from deportation
and undo the welcoming ordinance won't, won't affect them,
but will affect the thousands of undocumented people
and their families who now live in this city.
Trying to end the welcoming city ordinance is saying
that we don't want, we don't want some of our neighbors here
because of where they were born.
That is the text example of xenophobia attacking one set
of our Chicago residents based on their country of origin,
does not equate to fighting for resources,
for resources, for anyone.
We achieve nothing through division.
We must unite on a, on a shared agenda
for prosperity for all.
As as we,
as we, as we saw,
as we saw when the council passed the city budget last
month, we can work together to win resources
for all communities.
So let's unite against hate and division.
Let's unite in support of the welcoming ordinance
and for care and resources for all.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Please come back to order.
I would respectfully ask that you remain
silent while the person delivers their comments
if you wish to applaud.
Otherwise wait till the end of their presentation please.
Next speaker please, Mr. Clerk.
Our next speaker is Claudia Marchin.
Good morning everyone. Good morning.
My name is Claudia Marchan.
I'm the executive director of Northern Illinois Justice
for Our Neighbors, an immigrant justice organization
that provides free immigration legal services
to all immigrants who need them throughout
Chicago and northern Illinois.
I'm also here with icer.
We also fought really hard with our leaders
and our volunteers to make Chicago a sanctuary city in
Illinois, a welcoming state.
I am an immigrant myself.
I came to the United States at the age of four,
was undocumented for 26 years
and documented for nine years total of 35 years.
As you can imagine, 35 years is a long, long, long time
to live in the shadows.
This is why sanctuary city status is so important
to my family as they kept us together
for an uncertain 35 years.
Sanctuary city status provides protections
for our current clients at Justice For our neighbors,
it protects, uh, them from racial profil racial profiling,
from being surveilled
and tracked due to their immigration status.
Sanctuary status has meant that our clients do not have
to be afraid of reporting crime to the police
because of their immigration status.
Sanctuary city status has meant
that undocumented individuals documented individuals,
all immigrants and bipa communities are able to walk
around our city feeling safe and protected.
I urge the alders representing their communities here today
to be honest about
what being a sanctuary city really means for Chicago.
It means that we do not
and will not accept for BiPAP communities
and immigrant communities to be mistreated
because of our skin color.
I urge elders once again to do the right thing today
and protect the communities that they represent
because challenging the ordinance will affect all
communities and make Illinois unsafe for all.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is George Blakemore.
An anti immigrant illegal call ICE.
Send 'em all back waiting across the Rio Grand and,
and dont obey our immigration and naturalization law.
And watch my minutes because you should have it up here
and over here because they steal my minutes.
We are the only people in America
that was enslaved in America.
We're not immigrants, we're not migrants. We belong.
Listen, listen.
We are the only people enslaved in America.
We didn't come over waiting and looking for something
and when we came over we did work,
but it was free labor that built this country, black labor
that built this country white power.
And to see another group come over here, it's disgraceful.
It is un America.
And these rules that you have the rule,
who made these rules?
When did the ultimate vote for these rules?
When did the people have time to,
to participate in making these rules?
And one of you all came over to me, Mr.
Blakemore, we got little children.
What about the black children in the ghetto?
We gotta make a future for them.
These others will move out, move us out,
and they come in to compete with jobs
good and contracted. Historian
called Anderson say that they have a negative effect
on the black community.
Read. Reading is fundamental.
I don't have to love nobody but me.
Self preservation is the first law of nation
and these black alderman, I urge you to vote no.
Uh, because aren't you black? Aren't you black?
Don't you live black?
Have you experienced the, the suffering
that our people have gone through
and still going through it, having another group
to come up in life and get in front of us?
You, you got the right one on this mic.
You got the right one. Mr. Blakemore, we got children here.
Now you've been respectful.
I am respectful and I'm advocating for the black children
because you all trying to judge for us out
and you in for jobs, goods, contracts and service.
Who do you think I am
or who are you? If they
clap I can say boo.
If they clap again, I can say boo.
I'm strictly advocating for black people
and call ICE on them.
Trump, come in here, clean this mess up.
The most corrupt city in the United States is a city
of Chicago and that's not my
Thank you Mr. Blakemore
for your comments.
Our next speaker is Fasika Alam.
Good morning everyone. Morning.
My name is Fasika Alam
and I am an immigrant from Ethiopia
who has called Chicago home for 27 years.
I also represent the United African Organization,
which is a Chicago based organization
that supports black immigrants
who today represent one in 10 black
people in the United States.
I wanna share a story yesterday that I had with Miguel
and his wife Albertina, who are,
who are, who made the dangerous trek from
Angola and across the forest fleeing persecution
with their four children.
And we asked him, why Chicago? Why did you come to Chicago?
And he said he always knew when he had to leave
that he wanted to come to Chicago
because what he had seen of Chicago, the the the Chicago
of Michael Jordan, the Chicago of Barack Obama had
to be a welcoming place and so he chose Chicago.
Let's be clear, repealing the welcoming city ordinance will
disproportionately affect Chicago's black immigrant
community who are three times more likely to be detained
and deported due to interactions with law enforcement.
Whether you are undocumented
or documented that statistics remains to be true.
Repealing the welcoming city ordinance will cause families
that have been here for years have families
that have children that have contributed to this city
to once again live in fear to again to
to again be afraid, to fully participate in our communities,
in our society, to be afraid to seek resources, to go
to the hospital, to call police when they're in danger.
Therefore, I urge the alders here to hold dear
to the welcoming city ordinance
and to help us work together to build a city
where everyone can feel safe.
Whether you came here fleeing persecution and seeking refuge
or your families, were imported here against your will this
city, what can work for all of us.
And I urge you to not support this resolution. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you
very much for your comments.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Omar.
Please return the order.
Next speaker, please return the order.
Our next speaker is Omar.
Good morning. Good Morning.
My name is Omar and I'm an organizer
with the Arab American Action Network.
I am here today with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants
and Refugee Rights In support
of the welcoming city ordinance.
I urge you as a public servant of this great city
to uphold your duty to protect its sanctuary
and its communities.
The city, the city of Chicago has been welcoming home
for many immigrants for decades.
Whether they came from South, South America,
the Arab world, or other countries from around the world.
In times like these where humanity seems bleak by actions
of those like Genocide Joe or wicked men like Ray Lopez
and bail, you must stand by what you swore by
to protect and serve our communities.
We reject any employees
that will put a target on the backs of our communities
and endangering them.
As an [inaudible] I had to wait 11 years
to have my case approved.
I was made refugee to the, to a war funded
by the US War machine
and nobody has to deserve to wait that long
and suffer why have suffered.
Most of the people who are seeking refuge
here were displaced by the unjust federal policy,
foreign policies
and the bombs that were paid by our tax dollars.
So instead of looking for someone to put the,
to pin the blame on for any economic burden,
point your fingers to the federal government
and let them invest in our communities rather than funding
occupation and genocide.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker, our next speaker is Merced Alday.
Our next speaker is Merced Alday.
Thank you very much. Our next speaker
is Von Roland.
Our next speaker is Lauran Lawrence.
Good morning. Good morning. My name is Lauran Lawrence so
that all of you all know
that I am representing multiple communities.
Let's start with Brighton Park.
Let's start with Austin
and let's also go with East Morgan Park.
All of these communities that I have been out there
with them protesting for these unsanctioned rights
that has been going on here.
It's just crazy.
I'm gonna get started with a few things
since I got three minutes.
Number one, I'm a native to Chicago.
I was born and raised here. I've seen the changes.
Don't let the age fool you for how I look
because I've been here a long time.
I have seen things just transition as if a lot
of people are not important here.
I'm not for the sanctuary city
and the reason why I'm not for the sanctuary city is
because people have waited years.
The coming here legally, not just
transported on these buses,
dropped off in our neighborhoods,
raise of crime, almost got hit several times just making
it down here today.
And this is ludicrous. There should not be two sets of laws.
Also the west side and the south side,
Black communities have been earmarked
for having funds, never seen it.
We're still waiting on those funds
to come into those communities.
Brandon Johnson, many people stood behind you.
They feel let down
because the day you came into office,
which I believe was May 15th,
you already had signed an executive order.
Now rather it came from Governor Pritzker
or whomever that directed you on this,
is it fair to these communities
that have been waiting for years?
You said you on the west side,
but you should know what's going on over there as well.
Let's also talk about the things
that I witnessed about crimes that are going on.
Also just watching my neighbor hook up electric, okay,
reroute the gas, burning grass on the lawn.
When are you going to have our neighborhoods cleaned up
and when are we going to get the rights that we deserve?
I'm not against anyone coming in here legally,
I wanna say that clearly.
But for those who have not, they don't pop us.
They don't go before us. We're not last in line.
$9,000 going to illegals,
but those who live here have not gotten funding yet.
Many people homeless. My husband is a veteran now.
You know, I got a heart for that.
That, but let, we got a lot of these on the street
and I also have been the one that worked in food pantries.
Also helping people who are on the streets, they need
to be taken care of.
They need to stop being neglected
'cause if we don't have a voice here,
we will have a voice out there
and those aldermen who are not caring.
Okay.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Nelly Musajeva.
Hello, my name is Nelly Musajeva.
and I'm a leader with Palenque and a member of ICER.
I live in the 30th ward.
I'm a graduate of Carl Schurz High School
and I'm currently a student at Dominican University studying
neurobiology with a dream of
doing research on neurodegenerative diseases to help those
with devastating conditions.
I'm also undocumented
and I feel comfortable saying this here today
because of the welcoming city ordinance,
the welcoming city ordinance isn't giving me money
to attend college, pay for food,
or an apartment or health insurance.
All the welcoming city ordinance is giving me
and thousands of other immigrants in Chicago as a chance
to live without fear that my immigration status alone would
be a reason for the police
or another city employee to call ICE and have me picked up.
I cannot imagine that any city council member would want me
or thousands of immigrants to live in fear.
I know that you want Chicago to be a place
that defends the rights
and dignity of all Chicagoans, regardless
of the immigration or resident status.
That is why I'm here today
to ask you the city council members
to keep the welcoming city ordinance in place.
It is a common sense
and humane measure that protects the rights
and safety of all Chicago immigrants.
Let us defend the welcoming city ordinance
to protect the peace, safety,
and human rights of all immigrants who contribute
to the vitality and strength of the city.
Thus, prove that Chicago is a city of hope, not fear
and a city of unity, not division.
Let us keep Chicago a welcoming city for all. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Our next speaker is Vaughn Roland.
Your honor, there are no further speakers
who have timely signed up for the public comment period.
Very well. This concludes our public comment period
as set forth for the special meeting agenda.
In the letter calling for the special meeting,
the only item up today is
for consideration is a resolution authorizing a referendum
question regarding whether the city
of Chicago should continue
to keep its designation as a sanctuary.
City, city Council
is not currently considering a report from the rules
committee on this item.
So we therefore need
to suspend the rules in order to consider it.
Can I get a motion to suspend the rules?
Chair recognizes Alder Fuentes, Madam Clerk or Mr.
Clerk. This
requires a roll call.
Please call the roll.
The motion to suspend the rules vote was now open.
I'll now begin calling the names
of those who have not voted.
Alderperson Robinson. Alderperson
Robinson votes no.
Alderperson
Chico.
Alderperson Jeanette Taylor.
Alderperson Rodriguez. Alderperson
Rodriguez votes nay.
Alderperson
Conway.
Has all members who wanted to vote have voted?
Our remote, our remote participants.
Alderperson Curtis? Yes. Yes. Alderperson
Curtis votes yay. Alderperson Taylor.
No. Alderperson Taylor votes nay.
There are 16 yays 31 Nays.
This motion fails. Alderman Harris
on the motion to reconsider
Move to reconsider the vote.
On the motion to reconsider,
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
All those opposed say no. This motion fails.
The motion to suspend the rules fails.
This item cannot be heard until it leaves committee.
There is no other further business to be heard today.
Alderman Harris on a motion to adjourn,
Alderman Harris rules that we adjourn.
Chair recognizes Alderman Beale.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr.
Chairman, let me just say that
I figured you all had something up your sleeve,
but let me just say that it is a shame.
It is a shame that you all are scared.
What are you scared of? To let the people have a voice.
What are you scared of the truth?
Are we scared of the truth?
Are, are we afraid that the people are gonna tell us
that we are spending money frivolously in this body?
Are we afraid that the people are gonna tell us
that we are headed in the wrong direction?
Are we afraid that the people are going to finally stand up
and speak in the city of Chicago?
That they're saying that this ship is headed
in the wrong direction?
Why are we afraid to let the people speak?
That's all this question is asking is to let the people
have a say in what's going on in this body.
But we are afraid of the truth. Crime is running rampant.
Our schools are in trouble.
We're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on people
that don't even pay taxes in this, in this city.
Now I'm all for taking care of people. I get it.
I am sympathetic as well.
However, I'm more sympathetic for the people in my community
that have been paying taxes their entire life
Can't get a furnace, can't get a roof,
can't get a hot water heater, can't get a back porch,
and my seniors are still starving for resources.
That's the question we need to be asking our people
when we vote on stuff that is not affecting the people
of this city that are suffering day in and day out.
That's the only question
that we are trying to get to the bottom of.
There's no containable way
we should be voting on hundreds of millions of dollars
to just, you know, go to Brighton Park only to have
the whole thing blown up.
We need to wake up. That's all we're trying to do.
Y'all we're trying to wake up.
This is not about going along.
Get along because I'm scared to make tough votes.
Our people are demanding change, they're demanding resources
and they're demanding
that we do something different in this body.
But I guess we don't want to do that.
We don't want the people to speak,
we don't want the people to be heard.
'cause I know most of you all in this body feel that,
you know, your community doesn't care what goes on downtown,
just what goes on in the ward.
But this affects the people in the ward.
This is affecting the people in their household
who are struggling to pay their, their rent, their light
and their gas trying to get food on the table.
But yet we can find money to just throw out the back
and burn it up because that's all we're doing.
We're taking it out back and we're burning it up.
So, I mean, I'm good with y'all decision.
I hope you all sleep good tonight, knowing
that you all continue to turn your back on the people
that are paying taxes in this city.
So if that's how you feel, God bless you
and I wish you a very good night's sleep.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Out of deference to
this body, I allowed for Alderman Beale to speak to an item
that does no longer exist.
Alderwoman Harris on the motion to adjourn.
I move that we adjourn. All those in favor, signify
by saying aye. Aye.
All those opposed, this meeting is adjourned.