Brandon Johnson — the Democratic mayor of the city of Chicago — erupted at a reporter’s use of the phrase “illegal aliens” during a Friday press briefing, branding the term “racist” and “nasty.”
The confrontation unfolded when the reporter asked about a document reportedly required by the White House concerning city spending on “illegal aliens” in Chicago. The moment quickly escalated.
“We don’t have illegal aliens,” Johnson replied sharply. “I don’t know if that’s from some sort of sci-fi message that you wish you’d had… Well listen, the legal term for my people were slaves. You want me to use that term too? So, look, let’s just get the language right. We’re talking about undocumented individuals that are human beings.”He added forcefully, “And I’m not going to accept that type of racist, nasty language to describe human beings.”
After denouncing the terminology, the mayor shifted gears to tout his city budget: a $16.7 billion spending plan, which he said is directed toward education, housing, transportation, environmental justice, youth employment and community safety. He also declared: “And we are going to challenge the ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share.”
His remarks were immediately backed by Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who emphasized that immigration cases are civil, not criminal. “Undocumented presence in the United States is not a criminal offense. And so thank you for the clarification on language.” she said.
Johnson has consistently defended Chicago’s sanctuary-style immigration policies, sharply opposed enforcement actions pursued by Donald Trump and other federal officials, and resisted cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in civil immigration cases.
Last month, for example, under Johnson’s direction the city issued an executive order prohibiting federal immigration agents from using city-owned or controlled parking lots, garages and vacant lots for civil immigration enforcement activities — instructing that “our school parking lots are not for ICE to load their weapons. They are for Chicago, who drop their kids off to learn.”
Critics argue that those policies undermine public safety by making the city less cooperative with federal enforcement — a charge supported by a report from the Immigration Reform Law Institute that ranked Johnson as “America’s worst sanctuary mayor” citing rising crime and overcrowding.
