Chicago’s Brandon Johnson named ‘worst sanctuary mayor’

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tops the list of the 10 worst “sanctuary mayors” in the United States, according to a conservative immigration group.

The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), a conservative immigration organization based in Washington, D.C., published a list of “America’s Ten Worst Sanctuary Mayors” on Tuesday. The list included the leaders of many notorious sanctuary cities that largely refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, such as New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, among others.

Topping the list at number one was Johnson, who was elected in April 2023 to lead the Windy City. IRLI blasted the Democratic mayor for signing an executive order re-affirming Chicago as a “welcoming and sanctuary” city for illegal migrants, establishing an office dedicated to supporting unlawful migrants, and seemingly blaming the city’s crime wave over the 4th of July weekend on former President Richard Nixon, among other actions.

“Johnson’s anti-border policies have received pushback from Chicago residents and city council meetings on the subject have faced protests from angry citizens wondering why their needs are being ignored in favor of illegal aliens,” IRLI wrote of the mayor.

“Unfortunately for these residents, Johnson doesn’t work for them,” the press release continued. “He works for anti-borders interest groups. This makes Johnson America’s worst sanctuary mayor.”

Chicago, a city that has long embraced the “sanctuary” label, continues to be hit particularly hard by the nationwide asylum crisis.

The Windy City has welcomed in more than 43,000 migrants — many of them bussed in from Texas — since August 2022 and has spent roughly $150 million to house and feed them, according to the Chicago Tribune. During a June press conference, Johnson referred to the current migrant housing situation as “unsustainable” when defending the city’s decision to evict migrants from shelters.

Chicago officials also expect thousands of more migrants to arrive ahead of the Democratic National Convention later this month.

There is no official definition of a sanctuary city, but it generally refers to laws or policies that restrict local law enforcement’s ability to coordinate or assist with federal immigration authorities. This typically means local police are prohibited from honoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests, barring them from alerting deportation officers before a foreign national is released from local custody.

Such policies, IRLI argues, draw criminal illegal migrants into their jurisdictions.

“Sanctuary policies are some of the biggest magnets drawing illegal aliens into this country, and sanctuary mayors are the loudest advocates of those policies,” Dale Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI, stated in the press release. “While they claim to be more compassionate than their critics, the policies of these mayors are actually causing unacceptable levels of overcrowding, criminal activity, and death in their communities.”

Following Johnson, IRLI listed Mayors Eric Adams of New York City, Michael Johnston of Denver, Kelly Girtz of Athens, Georgia, Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Mary-Ann Baldwin of Raleigh, North Carolina, Reed Guscoria of Trenton, New Jersey, Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio and Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, respectively.

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