Little has to be said about the damage Operation Midway Blitz has done to Chicago society.

It has terrorized our communities, ripping apart families, badly damaging our businesses, depressing tax revenues and intentionally creating a climate of fear that has the potential to fundamentally pervert our civic life forever.

The Chicago City Council must act forcefully — it must act now — before too much is lost. What is being done by the federal government to us under the color of law and order has turned into an immoral farce.

This has been made worse by a feeling of hopelessness as our state and city governments are confounded by a lawless administration that does whatever it wants, whenever it wants, at whatever cost to the lives and livelihoods of this city.

This terrorization of our city by the Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino not only has had an impact our immigrant and Latino communities, but it’s also spilled over into every corner of our city, including our Black neighborhoods.  

But Chicago is not without power — and it is time we reclaim it.

I’m not talking about our moral authority — you just need to listen to Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Rev. Charlie Dates or any number of faith leaders who condemn the daily outrages on the streets here.

No, I am talking about the one thing this administration — and the forces that enable it — still listen to, and that is the power of the purse.

The Sun-Times recently detailed how the DHS, flush with unlimited resources thanks to the recent spending bill that made more money available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement than what the Marine Corps is budgeted, has signed contracts with locally based vendors. This includes $267,000 to West Loop-based Motorola to provide a radio network to DHS agents. Another Loop-based firm, SP Plus, formerly known as Standard Parking and which has city contracts at Midway and O’Hare airports, has been tapped by ICE for its operations in California.

With a gravy train of government contracts right now for this hastily planned “blitz” of Chicago, it stands to reason there are plenty of other vendors who do business with a city that is under direct attack by a federal government that needs to be brought to heel.

Chicago is under no obligation to do business with any company that helps the conduct of these out-of-control agencies. 

The Sun-Times article was a great start, but we need a full picture of just which city vendors are putting their own finances over the well-being of our city. I’m calling for a full-scale audit of all city contractors to see which ones are taking part in this operation. A generation ago, the City Council was a leader in boycotting businesses that propped up the South African apartheid government. We have the same opportunity to use our power of the purse again.

And this time, it’s not about achieving justice a continent away — it’s about saving ourselves.

We need to use alternative businesses to those that have chosen to facilitate the stripping of our residents of their dignity. It’s time do an audit to see the lay of the land and be prepared to use our financial power.

A fire fundamentally transformed our city a century and a half ago. Now ICE threatens to do the same. Let’s act before it’s too late.

Ald. William Hall represents Chicago’s 6th Ward and is chair of the City Council’s Subcommittee on Revenue. He also is senior pastor at St. James Community Church.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/21/opinion-chicago-contractors-business-ice/