Donald Trump may be the best thing that ever happened to Rahm Emanuel. This year Emanuel has been able to style himself as a champion of immigrants and a tough-talking defender of liberal values and his city’s pride thanks to Trump and his petty obsession with Chicago.
Meanwhile Chicago’s stature continues to grow as a glistening global city. The Obama Presidential Center will be constructed in Jackson Park, and a kickoff summit of global activists and leaders was held this fall. In December, Emanuel hosted a gathering of global mayors devoted to fighting climate change—a dig at the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
Two federal lawsuits filed on behalf of undocumented immigrants allege the city’s gang database violates civil rights. On December 7 the city settled in one case, with police essentially admitting they’d wrongly included Wilmer Catalan-Ramirez in the database, causing him to be arrested by federal agents and detained in the McHenry County Jail, all after he was partially paralyzed in a shooting.
The long-standing battle also continues between Emanuel and the Chicago Teachers Union, which enjoys widespread public support. The city recently announced plans to close and consolidate more public schools next year while emphasizing the role of charter schools, as if closing almost 50 public schools in 2013 wasn’t enough. Plans to close four schools in the Englewood neighborhood have particularly sparked protests.
