The vitality of the City of Chicago (the "City"), one of the most ethnically, racially and religiously diverse cities in the world, where one-out-of-five of the City's residents is an immigrant, has been built on the strength of its immigrant communities. The City Council finds that the cooperation of all persons, both documented citizens and those without documentation status, is essential to achieve the City's goals of protecting life and property, preventing crime and resolving problems. The City Council further finds that assistance from a person, whether documented or not, who is a victim of, or a witness to, a crime is important to promoting the safety of all its residents. The cooperation of the City's immigrant communities is essential to prevent and solve crimes and maintain public order, safety and security in the entire City. Furthermore, immigrant community members, whether documented citizens or not, should be treated with respect and dignity by all City employees and should not be subjected to physical abuse, threats or intimidation. One of the City's most important goals is to enhance the City's relationship with the immigrant communities.
Due to the City's limited resources; the complexity of immigration laws; the clear need to foster the trust of and cooperation from the public, including members of the immigrant communities; and to effectuate the City's goals, the City Council finds that there is a need to clarify the communications and enforcement relationship between the City and the federal government and to clarify what specific conduct by City employees is prohibited because such conduct significantly harms the City's relationship with immigrant communities. The purpose of this chapter is to establish the City's procedures concerning immigration status and enforcement of federal civil immigration laws and to identify conduct that City employees may not engage in when interacting with community members.
(Added Coun. J. 9-12-12, p. 33041, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 10-5-16, p. 33830, § 2)