New video shows the moment a progressive Chicago alderman tried to block a colleague from attending a sanctuary city vote, prompting his resignation.
The clip of the incident shows Carlos Ramirez-Rosa standing in a doorway of the city’s council offices last Thursday, before he appears to use his arms to physically keep Emma Mitts from entering the chamber.
Mitts and other lawmakers were attending a vote over whether to put Chicago’s sanctuary city status on the ballot next year, after the city was inundated by 20,000 migrants, triggering a crisis.
Meetings on whether to put the measure on the ballot are set to continue on Tuesday.
Tensions between the Windy City’s black and Latino communities have risen as Chicago struggles to care for the more than 20,000 migrants who have arrived in the last 14 months. Thousands of asylum seekers are staying at police stations and airports as the local government has run out of space to house them.
New video of the incident shows Ramirez-Rosa standing in the doorway of the chamber
He then appears to use his arms to physically keep Mitts from entering the chamber
Democratic socialist Ramirez-Rosa, who was mayor Brandon Johnson’s City Council floor leader, resigned from his leadership positions on the council.
His departure came after he was accused of ‘bullying’ fellow Ald. Emma Mitts during a special meeting to discuss the referendum on the city’s sanctuary status.
The city’s sanctuary status has been in place since 1985 and helps to ‘ensure undocumented residents are not prosecuted solely due to their immigration status.’
Ramirez-Rosa was tasked with gathering support for the mayor to turn back the referendum challenge and was reportedly trying to prevent the measure’s supporters from gaining a quorum to vote on the proposal.
Chicago alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa has resigned from his leadership positions in city council after he reportedly tried to block a female colleague from attending a vote on the city’s sanctuary status
Chicago’s black caucus said the incident was ‘an unfortunate and direct reminder of the decades of challenges that African-American women serving in City Council have had to overcome in our combined efforts to enhance the upward mobility of our collective communities.’
In his resignation statement on Monday, Ramirez-Rosa said: ‘Because the position of Floor Leader especially requires the confidence of our colleagues, and because through my actions I lost that confidence, I have informed the mayor that I will be stepping down from that position.
‘Furthermore, I am resigning as Chair of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards effective December 1st, to allow time for an effective transition,” Ramirez-Rosa said in a statement.
‘I cannot take away the mistakes I made last week. But I hope to be able to rebuild the trust we have in each other as we move forward as a Council that addresses the important issues impacting Chicago.’
Chicago’s Aldermanic Black Caucus had demanded Ramirez-Rosa’s resignation, as did protesters outside his office on Sunday. The Black Caucus includes 20 of the Council’s 50 members.
Mitts, who is black, is the longest-serving woman on City Council. She has not yet commented on the incident
The meeting was to discuss whether the city should ask voters in March if Chicago should remain a sanctuary city as the it continues being overwhelmed with nearly 20,000 newly arrived migrants
The Windy City is struggling with over 11,000 migrants in shelters and 4,000 staying in police stations and the O’Hare International Airport (pictured)
Mitts, who is black, is the longest-serving woman on City Council. She has not yet commented on the incident.
‘I think it’s absolutely imperative we give voters the opportunity to have their view on this subject heard, especially when we’re talking about spending $255 million this year alone to take care of 20,000 migrants,’ Ald. Raymond Lopez, who supports the referendum, told NBC Chicago.
Lopez and four other Latino councilmembers also demanded Ramirez-Rosa’s resignation.
Ramirez-Rosa and the mayor, on the other hand, has argued the city’s sanctuary status has nothing to do with providing to migrants, but rather refers to cooperating with federal immigration laws.
‘Our sanctuary city policy, which is a public safety policy, has nothing to do whatsoever with this humanitarian crisis,’ he said. ‘They didn’t do their homework. What they wanted was chaos, was demagoguery, and that’s what we got.’
Mayor Johnson told reporters last week that Chicago and other U.S. cities have borne the brunt of the responsibility for migrants. He is one of five mayors demanding the federal government help them take care of migrants
The Chicago Sun Times reported Johnson ‘simply could not afford to stand behind Ramirez-Rosa after he had been accused of getting physical with Ald. Emma Mitts.’
Like New York and other cities, Chicago has struggled to house asylum-seekers, slowly moving people out of temporary spaces and into shelters and, in the near future, tents.
Mayor Johnson told reporters last week that Chicago and other U.S. cities have borne the brunt of the responsibility for migrants. He is one of five mayors demanding the federal government help them take care of migrants.
‘From day one, I’ve said that the federal government has to do more,’ he said.
Chicago residents have opposed turning landmarks into emergency shelters, with some even asking city officials to close the city’s borders as mayor Johnson quietly signed a $29million contract with a security firm to build migrant base camps.
The situation at the U.S.-Mexico border has vexed the Democratic president, who is seeking reelection in 2024. He is increasingly under fire from members of his own party who are managing the growing number of migrants in their cities. Republicans claim Biden is soft on border security and is allowing too many people to enter the United States.
He has responded by toughening rules at the border meant to curb illegal crossings and by offering work authorizations and other incentives to those who come to the U.S. legally — applying ahead of time and arriving by plane.
Stunning images have shown droves of migrants traversing difficult terrain and wading through the Rio Grande river on their way over the southern border
The reason for the ballooning number of migrants in these cities is complicated, but economic and climate-related hardships in their home countries are key drivers. There are increasing numbers of families arriving and asking for asylum.
Some conservative-leaning states have sent migrants to so-called sanctuary cities such as New York or Chicago, where laws are more favorable to noncitizens. But that alone does not explain why the cities are facing such increases.
In years past, when migrants arrived, they would be released and picked up by nonprofit groups before usually going to stay with a relative already in the U.S. But the nationalities of the people arriving have changed, and many no longer have any place to go.
Winning asylum is a long and difficult process through a badly clogged immigration court system. In some cases, migrants may wait up to a decade for a court date. They are released into the U.S. to wait. Some are eligible to work, but such authorizations are badly delayed. There are concerns, too, that allowing too much work authorization will encourage more people to make the dangerous journey to the U.S. on foot. So thousands are in limbo, unable to work, sleeping in shelters or government facilities.
Biden has requested $1.4 billion from Congress to help state and local governments provide shelter and services for migrants, after earlier pleas from Democratic mayors and governors.