CHICAGO MAYOR: I WON'T ALLOW WHITE SUPREMACY TO DIVIDE US

In this powerful clip, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson responded to the latest media flurry regarding US President Donald Trump’s plans for ‘mass deportation.’ 

However, despite Trump’s rhetoric in his first term (2017-21), he deported 1.39 million migrants, fewer than his predecessors, Joe Biden (1.4 million deportations), Barack Obama (5 million deportations), George W Bush (more than 10 million deportations). 

Johnson pointed out that the US government allowed Ukrainians to seek asylum during the 2-1/2 years following the start of the war in Ukraine. While Biden banned asylum applications with a historic executive order in June 2024, Ukrainians benefited from an exception.

Johnson also pushed back by raising Indigenous peoples’ fight to reclaim their lands. The US was built following the displacement of Indigenous peoples. In 1887, four centuries after the Pan-European colonial project kicked off in the Americas, Indigenous tribes—whose population is estimated between 3.1 and 8.7 million—inhabited 138 million acres. Today, they control just 56 million acres. Parts of what are now western US states were under the control of Mexico before the Mexican-American War (1846-48), further seizing Indigenous peoples’ lands. With European imposition of colonial borders, Indigenous peoples could no longer freely trade, seek out food and travel.

Similarly, what is now known as the US city of Chicago is land that numerous Indigenous tribes claim, including the Council of the Three Fires (representing three nations: Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi), the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo and Illinois Nations. Racist policies like the 1830 Indian Removal Act changed this, pushing out tens of thousands of Indigenous peoples. By 1910, the Indigenous population in Chicago dwindled to 188. The US government forced Indigenous peoples in Chicago west of the Mississippi River, where they live on ‘reservations’ that some have referred to as ‘concentration camps.’

Sources:

https://iwgia.org/en/usa/5396-iw-2024-united-states.html

https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/diversity/chicago-indigenous

https://revenuedata.doi.gov/how-revenue-works/native-american-ownership-governance/

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/mexican-american-war

https://www.salzburgglobal.org/news/topics/article/the-impact-of-colonial-borders-on-indigenous-communities 

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/mexican/becoming-part-of-the-united-states

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2024-11-19/trump-deported-fewer-people-than-obama-clinton-or-bush-but-more-indiscriminately.html

https://www.rescue.org/article/what-do-president-bidens-border-policies-mean-asylum-seekers

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/01/14/deportations-increased-ice-arrests-in-detroit-decreased-under-biden/77675042007