CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot had sharp words for two aldermen she said made racist remarks during a City Council debate on immigration.
“Being an immigrant is not a crime,” Mayor Lightfoot said. “I just have to say, shame on you.”
The City Council voted to eliminate exceptions to the Welcoming City ordinance that would allow Chicago police to turn some undocumented immigrants over to federal agents if they are arrested on felony charges.
Alderman Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) and Alderman Anthony Napolitano (41st Ward) voted no, saying it benefits gang members.
"What this ordinance does, is treats those few individuals with the same compassion that you claim you want to give to individuals that are here undocumented trying to do right, trying to make a better Chicago, trying to do better for their families, and that is wrong," Ald. Lopez said.
Mayor Lightfoot took aim at the two aldermen.
“Spirited debate, which is at the heart of our democracy, is not the same as using racist tropes and xenophobic rhetoric to promote yourself on the backs of others and demonize them,” Lightfoot said. “And we dare not be silent when that happens, particularly not when it’s coming from the mouths of City Council members.”
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Lightfoot said it was “fear mongering” to suggest the ordinance would make the city less safe.
“When we seek to protect any group of vulnerable residents, that somehow we are inviting criminals to run amok, that is wrong, it is racist and I condemn it in the strongest terms possible,” she said.
During the council debate, other aldermen called out the two men and others. They said it's about due process, giving immigrants their day in court, not deportation.
The City Council vote to amend the Welcoming City Ordinance was 41 to 8 - overwhelming approval.