Overview
- Mayor Brandon Johnson and city officials presented the “Abolish ICE” snowplow Wednesday at a Streets and Sanitation site in West Town after the entry won this year’s naming contest.
- Johnson said Chicago “believes in abolishing ICE” and he rejected the agency’s presence on city streets and at airports, including O’Hare, where agents were recently assigned to support TSA during a partial DHS shutdown.
- The unveiling drew heckling that referenced Loyola freshman Sheridan Gorman’s killing last week, and DHS said the suspect, Jose G. Medina, is a Venezuelan national who was apprehended by Border Patrol in 2023 and released.
- Contest organizers reported about 13,300 submissions and 39,000 votes, with roughly 9,300 entries for “Abolish ICE,” and other winners included Stephen Coldbert, Pope Frío XIV, The Blizzard of Oz, Svencoolie, and Caleb Chilliams.
- The announcement came after months of federal operations in the region that produced arrests, protests, chemical irritant use, and agent-involved shootings, underscoring ongoing friction between Chicago officials and immigration authorities.