A Democratic leader in crime-ridden Chicago has warned of the failure of progressive policies to stem the tide of violent attacks in the city amid rising rates of murder and robbery.
Chicago’s 15th Ward Alderman Raymond Lopez told “America Reports” Tuesday that criminals are “taking note” of a lax attitude toward violent crime, going so far as to brazenly “threaten elected officials like me,” as per state law ‘doing’. “I cannot guarantee that you will be under bail any longer.”
When the House Judiciary Committee visited Chicago last week to investigate crime in the city, Lopez said deemed it is “unfortunate” that “no Democrat has chosen to participate and speak up or listen to those most affected.”
“They’re often talked about because of the progressive agenda, because of the extreme liberal agenda that says they care. But their policies, especially when it comes to police and criminal justice reform, are, in my opinion, deeply racist, because the victims of repeat offenders’ most heinous crimes are often the same black and brown residents that white liberals claim to to give. about it, but really not,” he said.
There were reports of murders, thefts, felonies, and property crimes in Chicago in 2022 33 percent higher than in 2019, before the pandemic. The incidence of major crime was also 61 percent higher in March 2023 than twelve months earlier, and 97 percent higher than in 2021.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) announces he will run for mayor of Chicago in 2023, during a press conference on April 6, 2022. Lopez has criticized rising crime in the city
Video shared last week showed a man being attacked in broad daylight in Chicago as robberies increased
Just last week, shocking video footage emerged of an innocent man being jumped by two opportunistic robbers in broad daylight on a Chicago street.
The video begins with the two attackers wandering through an alley. Finally, at 2:55 p.m., the victim, 33, casually walks past his attackers and eats pizza.
The man is then ambushed as an attacker throws him against a fence. Despite being outnumbered and ambushed, the victim fights back, repeatedly telling the attackers, “Get the hell off me!”
He eventually wrestles one of the attackers to the ground around some nearby trash cans. At that moment the other attacker says, “Let it go!”
The two were able to make off with his backpack and what appeared to be a cell phone.
Chicago Police Department statistics show that the number of robberies in the Bucktown neighborhood has increased by almost 100 percent compared to 2019 and by 53 percent compared to 2022.
Chicago also reported 21,516 car thefts last year, up from 13,856 the year before – an increase of 55 percent, according to data from the National Crime Information Center, and significantly higher than the national increase of seven percent.
Brandon Johnson, mayor of Chicago since April 2023, previously supported the Defund the Police movement and was widely criticized for his soft-on-crime approach.
He made history when he was elected as the first person to oust a presiding mayor in the Dem-led city since 1983, promising to make the city a place where “all residents can live and work free from the threat of violence ‘.
Johnson’s radical approach to policing involves shifting money from enforcement to social services such as housing and education, while taxing the wealthy and local businesses.
His predecessor Lori Lightfoot’s tenure was marked by criticism over her handling of crime in the city, which has risen significantly. The city recorded 800 murders in 2021, the highest number in 25 years.
Mayor Brandon Johnson delivers remarks during a news conference at City Hall in Chicago on August 2, 2023
Raymind Lopez currently serves on the Chicago City Council and serves as an alderman for the 15th Ward.
He became the first openly gay Mexican-American elected in Illinois after his successful 2012 bid.
Lopez announced last April that he would run for the 2023 mayoral election in Chicago, with Brandon Johnson ultimately unseating the incumbent Ms. Lightfoot.
Lopez dropped out of the race in November 2022 and ran for re-election to the City Council.
Last month he spoke out about payments under emergency contracts agreed to tackle the wave of migrants moving to the city.
Chicago has paid at least $56 million to Favorite Healthcare Staffing to care for the more than 13,000 migrants who arrived this year, according to an NBC 5 investigation that found nurses earned $135 or more an hour.
A manager was paid $14,000 for just one week of work, and a nurse earned as much as $20,000 for a week in December. Both invoices included overtime.
‘It’s disgusting to see such invoices. They are outrageous and warrant an immediate investigation,” Councilman Raymond Lopez told NBC.