The head of Chicago’s largest police union unleashed a scathing attack on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s executive order establishing protocols for potential prosecution of federal immigration agents, calling the directive a “piece of toilet paper” and questioning the competence of city leadership.
FOP Lodge #7 President John Catanzara Jr. provided the remarks to The Center Square following Johnson’s signing of an executive order on Saturday that the mayor said would lay the groundwork for criminal prosecution of federal immigration agents accused of misconduct while operating in Chicago.
“The only good thing in that piece of toilet paper is ‘no CPD member will be required to arrest any federal agents,'” Catanzara told the outlet.
Johnson’s executive order, announced at a press conference alongside about two dozen elected officials and community members, declared that Chicago would become “the first city in the country to set the groundwork to prosecute ICE and Border Patrol agents for criminal misconduct.”
Under the order, CPD officers are directed to document potentially illegal activity by ICE and Border Patrol agents. Johnson said the city’s cops would not arrest federal agents, but would instead collect evidence and refer cases to the state’s attorney’s office for possible prosecution.
The union boss added that reporting of potential wrongdoing “needs to be a two-way street and I will advise our members of such. Citizens can also be named offenders,” Catanzara said, suggesting CPD officers could start filing reports and documentation for crimes in which federal agents are the victims.
Catanzara also suggested the mayor’s office doesn’t understand basic immigration law.
“To demonstrate the level of incompetence in the mayor’s office, corporation counsel, and law department, I simply point out the line about most immigration matters being civil and not criminal,” Catanzara told the Center Square. “Entering illegally is a misdemeanor that is punishable up to six months in jail. A second offense is a felony with up to two years in jail,” Catanzara said.
Johnson’s executive order has also drawn criticism from Republican officials, including Chicago Republican Party Chairman Chuck Hernandez, a former Chicago Police Department detective, the Center Square reported. Hernandez said the mayor should recognize that federal immigration agents are enforcing longstanding federal law and that disputes over those policies do not belong at the municipal level.
“If he has a problem with it or if any other Democrat in Illinois has a problem with it, they need to go to Congress and overturn federal law. This is federal law, and these federal officers are doing their job,” Hernandez said.
The mayor’s executive order announcement Saturday quickly unraveled when Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke publicly contradicted Johnson’s claim that her office was intimately involved in crafting the order.
“Her office is in complete support of this executive order,” Johnson said at the press conference. “In fact, what she has said, her office has said repeatedly, the reason why she has not moved forward with prosecutions is because no evidence has been provided to her. Our office worked closely in collaboration with the state’s attorney’s office to ensure that this executive order will have the ability to do exactly what it is designed to do.”
When a reporter pressed Johnson on whether he had personally spoken with O’Neill Burke, noting that her office had released a statement saying it was looking forward to reviewing his order “now that we’ve received it,” the mayor again insisted that coordination had occurred.
“We worked in collaboration with the state’s attorney’s office. The police department, our law department, all of us worked together,” Johnson said. “We don’t do sloppy work. We do our work around here. There’s too much at stake.”
“Mayor Johnson’s statement is not true,” O’Neill Burke wrote on Twitter. “The CCSAO did not receive the Executive Order until it was released to the public. We do not provide legal approval of any matter until we’ve reviewed it. On such a critical issue, it’s important we get it right.”
Johnson’s press release announcing the executive order did not mention O’Neill Burke and did not include any quotes from her office. Instead, it featured a lengthy endorsement from Larry Krasner, the District Attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Former Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel called Johnson’s move “a political stunt” and argued it distracted from genuine public safety issues.
“Chicago crime is real, rising, and devastating families daily,” Weitzel said. “Investigating federal agents instead of violent offenders is reckless. The Mayor should focus on protecting citizens, not chasing headlines.”
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