CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said he's working with his advisers to find ways to hold ICE agents accountable -- including prosecution -- for violence that happens during immigration raids.
The mayor's comments during an appearance Tuesday at City Hall follow the most recent fatal shooting by ICE agents in Minneapolis, which killed nurse Alex Pretti as witnesses said he was helping a woman who had been shoved to the ground by federal authorities last Saturday.
The mayor told reporters that his administration's efforts to curb ICE activities, including executive orders preventing the use of city property by federal immigration agents, have been models for other cities.
But he suggested that Pretti's shooting was a sign that federal agents are being directed to shoot and kill, and that cities facing immigration raids need to be ready to do more.
"We have to seriously look at how local government can ultimately not just bring charges and investigation against the federal overreach, but how we can create a process that allows for prosecution of these individuals," the mayor said.
He said he's talking to Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and others to find potential pro-active solutions: "We cannot just simply leave it to protests that just react."
The mayor plans to attend this week's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where he said he'll urge his counterparts from across the country to step up their response to what he describes as the federal government's overreach.
"We're gonna have to be innovative and bold and creative," he said.