Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham Normalized the Same Type of Political Violence He Claims to Oppose When it is Practiced by I.C.E. (800th Post!)

I. Introduction

     The following speech is an address, regarding immigration, which I delivered to the Waukegan City Council on October 20th, 2025.
     Portions of this speech were omitted from the live version of the address, in order to fit into the three-minute time period which is allotted to people who provide public comments to that body.



II. Speech

     I rise this evening to speak about the subject of immigration.
     If you compare America’s population density to the rest of the world, you will find that our population would have to grow by 183 million people, before we reach the world average, and before we could reasonably say that we are overcrowded.
     We have plenty of room for immigrants.

     The amount of wealth that undocumented immigrants take out of the welfare system, has been estimated at $150 billion per year. According to my own estimates, this is the exact same amount of wealth which is stolen from immigrants, through wage theft, each year.
     Immigrants do not cause a net loss to the American taxpayer. We can afford to “take care of immigrants”; in fact, we take care of them just as much as they take care of us.

     The immigrants who supposedly “steal Social Security numbers” are only doing so because having a Social Security number is the only way to work legally.
     Moreover, the border officials who want immigrants out, are effectively trapping immigrants here at the end of harvest season, making it impossible to leave. Those officials are the reason why most immigrants are here illegally; not the immigrants themselves.
     People are not automatically criminals just because they are here without permission. Overstaying a visa creates no victim; and if there is no victim, then there is no crime. Only violent immigrants should be deported.

     Waukegan’s diversity is its greatest strength. Although Latinos are underrepresented, on the city council, by sixteen percent, I think it is a beautiful thing that Waukegan has three white, three black, and three Hispanic aldermen, without any racial quotas needing to be enshrined in the law in order to achieve this outcome.
     I praise the Lake County Board’s decision to ban federal agents from using county property to conduct immigration enforcement operations, I reject all attempts to pit blacks against Latinos, and citizens against undocumented immigrants; and all attempts to turn this country into a fascist dictatorship based on the legitimization of political violence, no matter who is doing it.

     Which is precisely why I cannot support Mayor Sam Cunningham’s attempts to posture as a hero who is protecting people from arrest by I.C.E..

     Before I continue, I must say this:
     The U.S. Supreme Court held – in the 1983 case of Connick v. Myers – that criticizing public officials is part of our freedom of speech. So I will thank you all to stop cautioning people who speak here against criticizing city employees.

     Let’s face it: We have a mayor who kind of likes to beat people up. This is not hyperbole, nor slander; I personally watched the mayor poke my friend in the chest – causing him to fall to the ground – on July 17^th, 2021.
     I should have defended him from you. And I would have been within my legal rights to do so. I regret not doing so every day. That is a decision that I will never get back.

     This mayor’s violent behavior, at the local level, has normalized the same kind of thuggery which we have seen coming out of the Trump Administration at the federal level.
     You have given us a choice; between having the right boot on our necks, and having the left boot on our necks.
     I don’t want any boots on my neck. I can’t breathe.

     When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.

     Mr. Mayor, the people are catching on. Your days in politics are numbered.
     If you continue serving in office, you will destroy the credibility of not only yourself, but also your supporters (for being foolish enough to trust you) in the process.
     If you care about your constituents, then please retire now.

     Now, I am not stupid enough to threaten a public official. But what I will say is this: Are you gonna beat me up too? No? Too many witnesses? That's what I thought.
     Happy National Bullying Prevention Month.

Written and published on October 20th, 2025.

The majority of this speech was delivered live
on October 20th, 2025.