{"id":681521,"date":"2026-03-25T20:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/681521\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T20:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:33:18","slug":"chicagos-abolish-ice-snowplow-unveiled-by-mayor-brandon-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/681521\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago’s ‘Abolish ICE’ snowplow unveiled by Mayor Brandon Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a Chicago salt truck with a baby blue cab pulled up slowly behind Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday, the mayor pointed to the newly christened vehicle\u2019s name as evidence that the city stood together.<\/p>\n

Emblazoned on its side: \u201cABOLISH ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eye-catching name \u2014 a play on words jabbing at President Donald Trump\u2019s use of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents in Chicago and other cities to enforce the administration\u2019s aggressive deportations \u2014 was submitted over 9,000 times. The total\u00a0accounted for\u00a070% of all submissions<\/a> in\u00a0a citywide contest<\/a> to name six new salt trucks, Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want ICE in Chicago,\u201d Johnson said as he unveiled the top winner. \u201cChicago has spoken overwhelmingly. We do not want ICE or our cities occupied by rogue federal agents who are operating outside of the bounds of the Constitution. It\u2019s an affront to who we are as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The support for the name, which Johnson said was \u201cresounding,\u201d followed this past fall\u2019s Operation Midway Blitz<\/a>, a 64-day incursion in which more than 100 ICE and other federal agents arrested 4,500 people. The effort also involved tear-gassing citizens and the attempted deployment of National Guard members onto city streets. Local Democratic officials, including Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker, vehemently opposed the operation, as did tens of thousands of protesters.<\/p>\n

Johnson reiterated that opposition on Wednesday, as he has also opposed moves this week by Trump to deploy scores of ICE officers to airports around the nation, including O\u2019Hare International Airport<\/a>, to assist Transportation Security Administration agents amid an ongoing partial government shutdown that is leaving TSA agents unpaid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to respond to threats from the federal government and bring our city together to safeguard the rights and dignity of all of our residents,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are doing everything in our power to protect our city. I am proud of the Chicagoans who express and continue to live out our values every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson read off other winning names as he stood in front of a towering white salt dome operated by the city\u2019s Department of Streets and Sanitation: Stephen Coldbert, Pope Fr\u00edo XIV, The Blizzard of Oz, Svencoolie and Caleb Chilliams.<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Brandon Johnson unveils the \u201cAbolish ICE\u201d snowplow that won the naming contest, March 25, 2026, at a Streets and Sanitation facility in West Town. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

But as Johnson celebrated the tongue-in-cheek jab at ICE, a heckler shouted behind a row of television cameras. The man, who departed after being asked to leave, called the truck naming a \u201cjoke\u201d in light of the murder of Loyola University Chicago freshman Sheridan Gorman<\/a>, who prosecutors allege was murdered by a Venezuelan national, Jose Medina, 25. Republicans and others have laid blame on Johnson and Pritzker for supporting city and state sanctuary policies, they argue, that are partly responsible for the killing.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE would have saved Sheridan Gorman. She would still be alive,\u201d the heckler said.<\/p>\n

Asked by reporters if he considered rescheduling the naming event in light of the murder, Johnson called it \u201cheartbreaking\u201d and a \u201cterrible tragedy\u201d and promised it would make him double down on efforts to combat violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the Trump administration is doing and has done has nothing to do with immigration enforcement or safety. It doesn\u2019t,\u201d Johnson said. \u201c95% of the individuals that were detained by ICE were not the \u2018worst of the worst\u2019 that he said that he was going to go after, had no criminal record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson later described the presence of dozens of ICE agents at O\u2019Hare as an effort to spark fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about intimidation. It\u2019s about raising the anxiety of people across this country. It\u2019s about him going after our elections and our democracy,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When a Chicago salt truck with a baby blue cab pulled up slowly behind Mayor Brandon Johnson on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":681522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[286503,960,5386,1818,214764],"class_list":["post-681521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-abolish-ice","tag-chicago","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-snowplow"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116291725391474687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}