(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Mayor Brandon Johnson says his team is preparing documents ahead of his expected testimony on Capitol Hill next month, defending Chicago's Sanctuary City policies.
"There are a number of documents that we are now trying to centralize and organize so that we show up with what this committee is expecting," Mayor Johnson said.
Even the invitation to address the House Oversight Committee branded Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance as reckless, so Mayor Johnson knows what he's walking into at the congressional hearing.
"The people of Chicago will be on center stage. I'm representing the values of Chicago, and that's one thing that I don't regret."
The mayor told reporters it's important that the city not flinch or cower at attempts to intimidate over the policies.
"The federal government has the authority to enact deportation policy. No one is standing in the way of that," Johnson said.
"What we're just simply saying is making local law enforcement dubbed as federal agents were a part of their day-to-day and their job responsibility is to ask someone's immigration status, that is not American."
The mayor told reporters he'll go to Washington D.C. to represent the values of the people of Chicago with no regrets.
"My preparation happened 40 years ago when Mayor Harold Washington declared us to be a sanctuary city. Somehow he knew this day would come, and it's imperative in this moment that we don't flinch or cower to the intimidating tactics that are ultimately trying to get us to disrupt our evolution of our democracy."
Testimony from Johnson and the mayors of Boston, Denver and New York is scheduled for March 5.
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