Mayor Rahm Emanuel and first lady Amy Rule hosted six Dreamer students for dinner at their home Tuesday night to stress Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city among growing tensions over President Donald Trump’s new immigration policies.
"The dreams of these kids to go to college and what they want to do are no different than Amy and mine’s children, and their parents’ concern for them and their hopes for them is no different than Amy and I have for our children," Emanuel told reporters as he stood with the students on the sidewalk outside his Ravenswood home. "The power of the United States is that people from all walks of life, all over the world, can come here to Chicago, the most American of American cities, and give their children a chance at a better life."
The mayor briefly addressed reporters and TV cameras after the dinner, which was served around the Emanuel family dining room. Emanuel and Rule were joined by their daughters, Ilana and Leah, Cardinal Blase Cupich, four students originally from Mexico, one from Nigeria and one from India.
According to the mayor’s office, the six students benefited from former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that offered legal protection to about 742,000 people who were brought to the U.S. as children and stayed here illegally. During the campaign, Trump said he would rescind Obama’s executive order that created DACA, but after the election said he was willing to work out a solution for them to stay.
Trump’s recent executive order cracking down on refugees and citizens traveling to the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim countries has led to airport protests and federal lawsuits challenging his move. The president also signed an executive order last week that seeks to strip federal funding from sanctuary cities such as Chicago that prohibit city officials from asking individuals’ immigration status.
Amid that political climate, Emanuel has sought to position himself as a champion of the city’s immigrants and Dreamer students, often noting that his ancestors fled religious persecution overseas.
Protesters Disrupt Mayor’s Press Conference
Protesters are removed by police after disrupting a press conference by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in front of his home after the mayor hosted a dinner with immigrant students Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Protesters are removed by police after disrupting a press conference by Kaçak İddaa Mayor Rahm Emanuel in front of his home after the mayor hosted a dinner with immigrant students Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
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"As we were talking, a lot of the kids mentioned how comforting it is to know that the city is going to remain a welcoming city," Emanuel said, as he encouraged other citizens to host similar dinners and volunteer with organizations to give "our fellow citizens a sense that they belong, they are secure and they are supported here in the city of Chicago."
As the mayor talked on the sidewalk outside of his home, he was interrupted by two protesters who shouted that Emanuel should expand Chicago’s sanctuary city status to those who have been arrested, charged with crimes or convicted of crimes.
"How about you expand sanctuary cities?" shouted Anthony Quezada, a 21-year-old activist who lives in Logan Square. "That is how you fight back! Quit using them as symbolism and fight back! Have a spine!"
"OK," Emanuel calmly responded with a smile. "Thank you."
"Everything you’re doing here is just for show," shouted Egle Malinauskaite, a 22-year-old who described herself as a DACA student originally from Lithuania who is studying to be an engineer. "Inviting us into your home and pretending like you care about us? OK. How about you protect us?"
Small group protests in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune
Egle Malinauskaite, left, and Anthony Quezada are removed by police after protesting in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home during a press conference after the mayor hosted a dinner with immigrant students on Jan. 31, 2017 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Egle Malinauskaite, left, and Anthony Quezada are removed by police after protesting in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home during a press conference after the mayor hosted a dinner with immigrant students on Jan. 31, 2017 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
(Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
"That’s what we’re talking about," Emanuel responded as police escorted the two demonstrators down the block. "Thank you very much."
Instead of finishing his remarks, Emanuel asked Cupich to come forward and speak and the protesters’ shouting faded into the distance. The cardinal said he’d be hosting a similar dinner soon.
As Emanuel ended the brief news conference and began to walk inside, he was asked about the criticism that the city’s sanctuary protections aren’t strong enough.
The mayor responded by noting that in 2012 he strengthened the city’s sanctuary policy from just a mayoral executive order to a city ordinance. Emanuel said the current policy is "comforting to these children," but he did not address the argument that he should protect those who are arrested or convicted of crimes.
The dinner marked a rare moment during his nearly six years as mayor that Emanuel has been the one to draw attention to his leafy Ravenswood street. Usually, it’s the protesters who draw television cameras to the mayor’s block.
Demonstrators have picketed along the street many times, including during a Chicago teachers strike, as Emanuel moved to close nearly 50 elementary schools, and in the aftermath of the release of the Laquan McDonald police shooting video. The mayor’s neighborhood was in the news again in December 2014 when his son, Zach Emanuel, was robbed of his cellphone while walking down the street and was assaulted by two individuals, one of them a teenager who pleaded guilty to aggravated battery.
Emanuel’s Tuesday night dinner was closed to the press, and the mayor’s office did not identify the six students by name, just by their schools and the countries they emigrated from. Emanuel’s office released four images of the get-together, including one of the mayor standing in front of a blazing fire, his arm rested on a fireplace mantle as the six students and Rule sat on couches and his two daughters sat on the floor.
Earlier Tuesday evening, Emanuel promoted a new school construction project on the Northwest Side but ducked out early, explaining that he was hosting a group of young Dreamers at his home "to let them know that they’re welcome in this great city."
Given President Trump’s actions on immigration, Emanuel urged the crowd gathered inside the Merrimac Park gymnasium to contact their immigrant neighbors to stress they are welcome in Chicago.
"We have a lot of our fellow residents who are unsure about tomorrow," Emanuel said. "Their kids are unsure."
Chicago Tribune’s Juan Perez Jr. contributed.
bruthhart@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BillRuthhart
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