Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson did not hide the fact that he was a progressive from voters, but they may not have known that he would favor letting illegal immigrants vote.
Johnson's platform states that he wants to “work with Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield to pass legislation that will allow all parents and taxpayers to vote in school board elections, regardless of citizenship status.”
It's an increasingly popular stance among progressives, who reason that since illegal immigrants are part of the local community and their children attend the local schools, they should have a say in their leadership even though they don't have official status in the U.S.
But progressives seem to forget that each and every illegal immigrant is breaking U.S. laws by their very presence in the country, which negates their "right" to have a say in how things are run.
If the U.S. was enforcing its immigration laws, they would be arrested, convicted and deported. Non-residents and those convicted of crimes do not get to vote, period.
Washington, D.C. is trying to do the same thing, allowing illegal immigrants to vote, but the vast majority of Congress has voted to block that plan, including most Democrats.
It's not clear whether there is a way to block it in Chicago if Pritzker goes along.
It's an idea that if adopted locally, could spread to the state or even federal level with enough support.
Along with illegal immigrant voting rights, Johnson also wants to use taxpayer funds to give semi-permanent housing to illegal immigrants and to abolish the gang database in the city.
He claims the existence of the gang database “punish[es] Black and Brown communities without the right to due process.”
While having the gang database is a help in fighting gang-related crime in the city, critics have argued that it is full of errors and that until 2021, there wasn't even a way for someone to challenge their inclusion on the list if it is wrong.
A Chicago Tribune article from that time chronicled a police officer who couldn't get promoted because he was on the list and a minister who found out he was also erroneously on the list when he was pulled over.
Maybe instead of getting rid of the tool altogether, Johnson could use resources to make it more accurate, because Chicago needs all the help it can get fighting gangs which are responsible for most of the shootings in the city.
Progressive solutions that excuse crime and even reward it will never work in Chicago or any city, and Johnson is about to find that out just like Lori Lightfoot and his other predecessors did.
