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Retired Chicago area police chief laments Mayor Johnson’s refusal to cooperate with ICE

Tom Weitzel, a retired Chief of Police from Riverside, Illinois, shares his frustration over Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s refusal to work with ICE, and how that could hurt local law enforcement.

A retired Chicago-area cop expressed frustration with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s refusal to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

"What's happening in Chicago and actually the state of Illinois, but I'll talk to you about Chicago, is they're under orders from the mayor not to cooperate with ICE. In fact, he famously said that the Chicago Police Department will never assist ICE, even if it's constitutionally required," Tom Weitzel, who was chief of police in Riverside, Illinois, told Fox News Digital. 

Weitzel served as police chief in the Chicago suburb, less than an hour outside the city, from January 2008 to May 2021.

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A retired Chicago-area cop says he is frustrated and outraged by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s refusal to cooperate with ICE.  (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

In July, Johnson vowed that his city’s police "will not ever cooperate with ICE." He also recently called ICE raids"terrorism," and described Trump’s America as looking like "if the Confederacy won." 

"He's had his city attorneys go and brief the administrative staff or Chicago PD, and then they're going to roll call to tell their officers how they cannot assist," Weitzel said. "And the dangerous thing with that is that he's telling them to never assist. So even when ICE would need more police officers because they're under attack, they're being assaulted, maybe they're being battered. He's directed his police department to not cooperate, which is unheard of. I've actually never heard of that." 

The retired police chief said he thinks morale among law enforcement in the city is low. 

"And morale is terrible because the media keeps slamming them," Weitzel continued. "You have the local politicians slamming the police, and you have the mayor, the chief of the whole government for the city of Chicago. He, if anyone thinks he supports police or policing, they are crazy. The mayor is about as anti-police as they come. And you know, nobody should be surprised because he ran on that campaign, and he got elected." 

Chicago has seen over 51,000illegal immigrants from the southern border settle into the city since August 31, 2022.

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Tom Weitzel is a retired police chief who served as chief of police in Riverside, Illinois, a town that is less than an hour outside of Chicago. (Photo courtesy: Tom Weitzel)

As someone who spent 37 years in law enforcement, starting out as a patrol officer for the Chicago Zoological Park Police, in Brookfield, Illinois, and holding various other positions in law enforcement, including being a detective sergeant, patrol sergeant, assistant chief of police, acting chief of police, and finally, chief of police," Weitzel said he is concerned for the well-being of the Chicago PD. 

"They're going to get police officers hurt, not only ICE agents, federal agents, but local police that are going to be injured, because I can tell you that when there's an attack on them that you've seen that, throughout the country, that some of their caravans have been attacked, the local police are coming to help," he said.

Weitzel added that, "Regardless of what the mayor says, and those officers are there not to do ICE enforcement or federal enforcement, they're there to assist ICE and prevent them from getting injured. So you're going to see his own local police officers be injured in the line of duty because of a completely stupid statement like they will never assist ICE."

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has called the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids "terrorism," and said that Trump’s America looks as "if the Confederacy won."  (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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Fox News Digitalreached out to Johnson for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.