Emanuel declares Chicago ‘a Trump-free zone’ after DACA decision

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) said Tuesday that the Windy City will continue to welcome “Dreamers” despite President Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

“To all the Dreamers that are here in this room, and in the city of Chicago, you are welcomed in the city of Chicago. This is your home and you have nothing to worry about,” Emanuel said in a prepared statement.

The comments come just hours after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the DACA program, which deferred deportation for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors and allows them to apply for work permits, would be phased out.

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“Chicago, our schools, our neighborhoods, our city, as it relates to what President Trump said, will be a Trump-free zone. You have nothing to worry about,” Emanuel continued. 

Emanuel served as former President Barack Obama’s chief of staff in the first year and a half of his White House tenure. Obama created the DACA program in 2012. 

“So, to all those who are part of what are referred to as DACA, or ‘Dreamers’, you will always be ‘Dreamers’ in the eyes of the city of Chicago because you have big dreams and we wan to be a part of those dreams,” Emanuel said.