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A Chicago alderman and former police officer is blasting the city’s mayor for politicizing the police force in response to recent reporting that the department was ordered not to assist federal immigration agents who were being surrounded by protesters.
“When someone calls for help, our guys go. Period,” Anthony Napolitano, Chicago Republican alderman of the city’s 41st Ward and a former Chicago police officer and firefighter, told Fox News Digital.
“There’s no way in hell that our officers would not have responded to that call for help even from the top-up. From our superintendent all the way down to our PPOs, they all would have gone unless there was a directive. I believe by the mayor’s office. This is the most disgusting act that I have ever seen in my 50 years of being alive and my 25 years of working for the city. This is rock bottom right now. This is, to me, political oversight on our police now determining how our police react to situations. That’s wrong. That’s absolutely wrong.”
Chicago police officers were ordered by their chief of patrol not to respond after Border Patrol agents called for help, saying they were boxed in and surrounded following a ramming incident outside Chicago, Fox News Digital reported over the weekend.
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Fox News Digital spoke to Chicago Alderman Anthony Napolitano (Left) about news police were told not to assist federal agents in trouble. (Fox News Digital/Getty)
Napolitano called the stand-down order “unheard of” and something he “never” experienced during his time as a first responder and placed blame on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
“This is pure politics controlling our police,” Napolitano said. “A lot of people at City Hall feel the same way, even if they won’t say it out loud. The mayor’s administration is trying to create chaos—so that federal help looks catastrophic instead of helpful. It’s politics over public safety, and it’s outrageous. Officers swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the mayor.”
Chicago has been at the center of the national immigration debate in recent weeks as ICE launched Operation Midway Blitz, describing the operation as one that “will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
Both Pritzker and Johnson have resisted Trump administration efforts to deploy federal resources to apprehend illegal immigrants in the city, with Johnson calling Trump “unstable” and labeling his efforts an “egregious attempt to undermine the sanctity of our democracy.”
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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson addresses reporters as President Trump weighs sending troops to Chicago. (Kamil Krazaczynski/Getty Images)
Napolitano told Fox News Digital that Chicago residents he has spoken with “want more police” and are behind efforts to rid the streets of criminal illegal aliens.
“They want the federal agents in there removing some of these people that don’t belong here,” Napolitano said, adding that while there is support for the “hard working” individuals that are trying to make the city a better place, residents are “furious” about the hundreds of millions of tax dollars going to programs supporting illegal immigrants while citizens struggle.
As for Trump sending federal resources into Chicago, Napolitano said, “Send more.”
“I absolutely love it. It absolutely is needed more than you know,” Napolitano said. “We need to clean up our streets. There are a lot of intense gang members and now when you bring in such an influx of illegals who are gang members on the city of Chicago streets, who prior to them had over 170,000 of our own gang members here originally, and they start clashing for territory and vice profits, there is a major issue in the city. So they need to come in and stay here until they clean it up.”
The Chicago Police Department issued a statement on Sunday disputing claims that officers failed to respond, saying they were on the scene to maintain public safety and document the incident.
“To clarify misinformation currently circulating, CPD officers did in fact respond to the shooting scene involving federal authorities on Saturday to maintain public safety and traffic control,” the department said.
CPD added that federal authorities are leading the investigation into the shooting, but that officers were present to ensure safety. Later that afternoon, police also responded to a separate call involving two hit-and-run crashes affecting federal personnel, the department said.
“The Chicago Police Department will always respond to anyone who is being attacked or is under the threat of physical harm,” the department said. “For incidents involving federal immigration enforcement, CPD supervisors will respond to the scene and determine the appropriate course of action in accordance with City law.”
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Screenshot of the Oct. 4, 2025 computer-aided dispatch message from Chicago’s chief of patrol instructing officers not to respond to a call for help from ICE agents who reported being surrounded outside the city. (Chicago Computer-Aided Dispatch System)
But two longtime ranking Chicago police sources sharply rejected the department’s assertion that officers responded to calls for help from ICE agents who were rammed and surrounded by protesters, telling Fox News it was, in their words, “COVER THEIR A– BULLS—!!”
One of the drivers accused of ramming into the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon, according to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who also said officers were unable to move and “were forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed U.S. citizen.”
Napolitano told Fox News Digital that the mayor’s actions are likely motivated by his poll numbers being “in the gutter.”
“A lot of us feel it’s a burn the house down on the way out effect where you have no chance of being reelected, so what you’re gonna do is try to get as much done as far as your agenda and their socialist movement over the last two years that they possibly can,” Napolitano said. “So it’s not about the city of Chicago, it’s- about getting what they can get done before the 2027 election. That’s all it is down there now.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.
