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Chicago Tribune
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
City mum on what documents it provided ICE in Streets and Sanitation subpoena
After first asserting they did not turn over personal information about city workers to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, Mayor Brandon Johnson's Law Department is now hedging on how exactly the administration responded to a federal subpoena for employment eligibility forms. Johnson Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry told reporters last week the city's response to an ICE subpoena for the forms of Streets and Sanitation employees that determine whether they can legally work in the U.S. contained no personal information about those workers. But on Monday, a Law Department spokesperson declined to go that far when the Tribune asked about what documents ICE did receive and what information they contain. 'The City's communications with the Department of Homeland Security regarding the subpoena issued to the Department of Streets and Sanitation are still ongoing,' Kristen Cabanban said in a statement. 'Moreover, these communications contain privileged and confidential information. As such, we cannot and will not comment on the specific nature or contents of those communications.' The latest explanation from the Law Department comes after it denied the Tribune's Freedom of Information Act request last week for records of the correspondence and documents the city has sent to ICE. Because the city rejected the Tribune's request in its entirety — and didn't simply redact any private data in its response — it remains unclear exactly what information the city provided to ICE. Last week, Richardson-Lowry answered a question on whether the city's response to ICE contained personal information by saying that 'under federal law, we had an obligation to at least provide a listing, and that information was provided without the kind of detail that you just referenced.' The Tribune reported earlier this month that ICE subpoenaed two city departments — the Clerk's Office and Streets and Sanitation — as part of an apparent new tactic in Republican President Donald Trump's plan to target Chicago as he seeks to ramp up deportations. Richardson-Lowry has said the administration will not cooperate with the first summons, which seeks applications to the clerk's CityKey municipal ID program that is used by immigrants, among other Chicagoans. The Tribune had filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records of the correspondence and documents the city sent to ICE in both subpoenas to verify the Law Department's statements. The city rejected the FOIA last week, citing an attorney-client privilege exemption. The Streets and Sanitation subpoena in question from March 21 seeks the department's I-9 forms, which show whether an employer has complied with verifying its employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. Cabanban did not directly answer follow-up questions Monday on whether the city in fact sent over any I-9 forms to ICE; whether any documents turned over contained private data; or whether Streets and Sanitation employees should be concerned about the federal agency obtaining their personal information. The ICE subpoena asks the city for the I-9 forms of all Streets and Sanitation employees, a list of current employees and ex-staffers terminated 12 months prior to the subpoena date, payroll data for all employees and their Employer Identification Number, a list of all current city contractors and a list of all staffing companies and their rosters. The I-9 form requires details such as the employee's address, date of birth, Social Security number, contact information, residency status and more. The employee must also provide documents verifying their identity and work eligibility, such as a passport or employment authorization document.
Chicago Tribune
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
After reports that Chicago is ‘next' in Trump's militarized crackdown, mayor warns president to respect Constitution
Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday condemned the latest threats from Republican President Donald Trump to target Chicago with federal troops, warning that such a move would be swiftly challenged in the courts amid an ongoing wave of pro-immigrant demonstrations. Johnson derided the reported comments from a senior Trump official who vowed that 'Chicago is next, if they go too far.' The mayor said he does not believe the federal government has that power. It was the mayor's latest response to ongoing signs from the White House that it is considering targeting Chicago with a military response after mobilizing the National Guard in Los Angeles. 'It's just another sort of example of his animus towards working people,' Johnson told reporters at a City Hall news conference. 'I think it's important that the President respects the Constitution. If you're asking me if this president is going to work with city leaders, it's clear that he's not interested in doing that.' Johnson, a progressive first-term mayor, has been among the Trump administration's highest profile domestic targets over the last several months. The most explosive point of contention has been Chicago's sanctuary policy for immigrants, mirroring similar laws in other blue cities and states that the president's team continues to blame as an obstacle in his bid to enact the largest deportation operation in American history. The mayor noted the federal government was not expected to give the city advance notice if it indeed deploys troops in Chicago. He did not elaborate on what the city's plans would be, beyond announcing the CTA's plans to disseminate resources from its 'Know Your Rights' immigration campaign across more than 400 digital displays and highlighting that much of this next fight would be via legal challenges. 'There's a great deal of resistance in this city around a host of things with the Trump administration. … Whether it's in the courts or whether it's in the streets or it's with public policy, we're going to continue to defend and stand up for working people,' Johnson said. 'As far as what this administration has been allowed to get away with, we have put forth lawsuits, which we've seen some success there.' Johnson's Corporation Counsel, Mary Richardson-Lowry, added 'we think it is a violation of the Constitution to deploy troops or National Guard, absent authority under the Constitution' that is reserved by the governor, not the federal government. Richardson-Lowry also addressed reporting from the Tribune last week that the city did comply with one subpoena from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE has subpoenaed two city departments: the clerk over its municipal ID program CityKey, and Streets and Sanitation over employment eligibility forms. The city provided some documents in the latter summons, a spokesperson for Johnson's Law Department said on Friday. On Tuesday, Richardson-Lowry stressed that none of those records contained personal information. 'There was another administrative warrant category for Streets and San, where under federal law we had an obligation to at least provide a listing, and that information was provided without the kind of detail,' Richardson-Lowry said. The city didn't hand over any documents with the other ICE subpoena, for CityKey records, the Johnson administration has said. On Friday evening, a week after the Tribune reported that ICE subpoenaed the clerk's office for personal information of applicants to the ID program that is often used by noncitizens, the city clerk took down the online application for CityKey. During the first Trump administration, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot also rebuked threats by the federal government to deploy the military in the face of civil unrest over the police murder of George Floyd. Though there was still some federal troop presence in the city, it paled in comparison to the crackdown Trump was teasing then — and enacting in Los Angeles now, with thousands of federal National Guard and Marine troops deployed there. Conservatives have long desired use of the National Guard to quell violence in liberal-leaning cities such as Chicago, with Trump leading the rhetoric. He posted to Truth Social on Sunday, 'We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America's largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.' A hearing on California's lawsuit seeking to compel the Trump administration to return control of the National Guard to the state was scheduled Tuesday in a federal appeals court.
Chicago Tribune
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
After reports that Chicago is ‘next' in Trump's militarized crackdown, mayor warns Trump to respect Constitution
Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday condemned the latest threats from Republican President Donald Trump to target Chicago with federal troops, warning that such a move would be swiftly challenged in the courts amid an ongoing wave of pro-immigrant demonstrations. Johnson derided the reported comments from a senior Trump official who vowed that 'Chicago is next, if they go too far.' The mayor said he does not believe the federal government has that power. It was the mayor's latest response to ongoing signs from the White House that it is considering targeting Chicago with a military response after mobilizing the National Guard in Los Angeles. 'It's just another sort of example of his animus towards working people,' Johnson told reporters at a City Hall news conference. 'I think it's important that the President respects the Constitution. If you're asking me if this president is going to work with city leaders, it's clear that he's not interested in doing that.' Johnson, a progressive first-term mayor, has been among the Trump administration's highest profile domestic targets over the last several months. The most explosive point of contention has been Chicago's sanctuary policy for immigrants, mirroring similar laws in other blue cities and states that the president's team continues to blame as an obstacle in his bid to enact the largest deportation operation in American history. The mayor noted the federal government was not expected to give the city advance notice if it indeed deploys troops in Chicago. He did not elaborate on what the city's plans would be, beyond announcing the CTA's plans to disseminate resources from its 'Know Your Rights' immigration campaign across more than 400 digital displays and highlighting that much of this next fight would be via legal challenges. 'There's a great deal of resistance in this city around a host of things with the Trump administration. … Whether it's in the courts or whether it's in the streets or it's with public policy, we're going to continue to defend and stand up for working people,' Johnson said. 'As far as what this administration has been allowed to get away with, we have put forth lawsuits, which we've seen some success there.' Johnson's Corporation Counsel, Mary Richardson-Lowry, added 'we think it is a violation of the Constitution to deploy troops or National Guard, absent authority under the Constitution' that is reserved by the governor, not the federal government. Richardson-Lowry also addressed reporting from the Tribune last week that the city did comply with one subpoena from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE has subpoenaed two city departments: the clerk over its municipal ID program CityKey, and Streets and Sanitation over employment eligibility forms. The city provided some documents in the latter summons, a spokesperson for Johnson's Law Department said on Friday. On Tuesday, Richardson-Lowry stressed that none of those records contained personal information. 'There was another administrative warrant category for Streets and San, where under federal law we had an obligation to at least provide a listing, and that information was provided without the kind of detail,' Richardson-Lowry said. The city didn't hand over any documents with the other ICE subpoena, for CityKey records, the Johnson administration has said. On Friday evening, a week after the Tribune reported that ICE subpoenaed the clerk's office for personal information of applicants to the ID program that is often used by noncitizens, the city clerk took down the online application for CityKey. During the first Trump administration, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot also rebuked threats by the federal government to deploy the military in the face of civil unrest over the police murder of George Floyd. Though there was still some federal troop presence in the city, it paled in comparison to the crackdown Trump was teasing then — and enacting in Los Angeles now, with thousands of federal National Guard and Marine troops deployed there. Conservatives have long desired use of the National Guard to quell violence in liberal-leaning cities such as Chicago, with Trump leading the rhetoric. He posted to Truth Social on Sunday, 'We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America's largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.' A hearing on California's lawsuit seeking to compel the Trump administration to return control of the National Guard to the state was scheduled Tuesday in a federal appeals court.
Fox News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Chicago suspends online application website that allowed illegal immigrants to obtain IDs after ICE subpoena
Chicago city clerk Anna Valencia suspended the online application method of obtaining CityKey IDs after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent a subpoena to her office for the information of applicants. As the Trump administration continues its efforts to deport an unprecedented wave of illegal immigrants allowed to enter the country during the Biden administration, it faces resistance from local officials. Leaders of particularly Democratic-leaning cities like Chicago are some of the most outspoken about their efforts to protect illegal immigrants from being deported. Valencia announced Friday that her office would take the CityKey online portal offline, the Chicago Tribune reported. CityKeys are a local government-issued form of ID that is accessible to Chicago residents regardless of their immigration status, gender identity, or criminal history. Her decision to suspend the online application portal occurred after ICE subpoenaed her office for the information provided by noncitizens, in their mission to pursue illegal immigrants. The Chicago Tribune noted that when the municipal ID program was first introduced in 2017, it was intended to skirt public records law and protect personal information by only processing applications in-person. However, as the migrant crisis spiked in the subsequent years, the city created an online portal to process applicants; documents that the office is not allowed to destroy under public records law. Responding to advocates alarmed at the online retention of documents that could be used by ICE, Valencia paused that aspect of the program. "We did hear, 'Let's pause the online platform temporarily as we take a pulse and evaluate what's happening,'" Valencia told the Tribune. "We're going to assess what's happening daily and where the climate is, and if we feel we are in a different place, we can easily turn the online platform back on, but we are not going anywhere." In May 2024, the City Council signed off on a new amendment to the municipal code that added, "Information provided by Applicants utilizing the online platform to obtain a City of Chicago ID will be stored." "Listen, I've always been honest and transparent and led with integrity," Valencia told the Tribune, referencing online warnings about records retention. "I know there's a lot of fear out there, so I want to be very clear that we're going to fight giving over any data to the federal government… No data was given over to ICE, period, zero, for the CityKey." "I want to go back to the original problem, that if this Trump administration wasn't overreaching for private people's data, this would not even be a conversation," Valencia said. "This is Trump doing a witch hunt and intentionally trying to instill fear in people so that they can overtake our democracy." The city says it does not have to comply with ICE's administrative subpoena, but if ICE comes back with a court order it could set off a legal battle. ICE and Valencia did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
CBS News
14-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Chicago City Clerk to stop accepting online applications for CityKey municipal ID program after receiving ICE subpoena for records
Chicago is pausing online applications for its municipal ID program, known as CityKey, after receiving a subpoena for records from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "This was a tough decision as this program serves a number of vulnerable populations that rely on the accessibility of CityKey, and ultimately, that's also the reason I'm pausing our online platform," City Clerk Anna Valencia said in a statement. "Making decisions that protect people is vital during a time where the federal government is terrorizing its own people, and I'm going to keep speaking out and standing up for all Chicagoans." The CityKey ID helps people who are undocumented or unhoused who might have problems getting or maintaining an ID card. People can still apply for a CityKey ID in person by making an appointment online. The clerk's office said applications and documents used to validate and print CityKey IDs are returned to the applicant, meaning no online records are maintained of applications. In addition to serving as a government ID card, CityKey also works as a Ventra card, library card, and prescription discount card. The Chicago Tribune reported last week that ICE had subpoenaed the clerk's office for personal information of CityKey applicants. Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration has vowed to fight the subpoena, and on Wednesday the mayor condemned the Trump administration's attempt to access applicants' records. "It's bad," the mayor said. "It's wrong." The City Council authorized the CityKey program in 2017, but it wasn't until December 2024 – after President Trump was elected to a second term – that the city began taking online applications for the ID. State law requires the city to retain records submitted online, so unlike with in-person applications, the city must keep records of online applications for the ID.
