Courthouse News Service - CAITLYN ROSEN - May 19, 2025

CHICAGO (CN) — The Department of Justice is investigating the city of Chicago for what it described as discriminatory hiring practices in a letter addressed to the mayor, which was shared to social media Monday afternoon.

"The Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation of the employment practices of the City of Chicago, Illinois, to determine whether it has engaged in a pattern or practice of racial discrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act," the department's civil rights division posted to X.

The probe comes a day after Mayor Brandon Johnson's appearance at a South Side church, where he spoke about his vision for the remainder of his term.

Johnson spoke with Bishop Byron Brazier at the church's "Lakeside Chat," where he detailed the diversity in his office. Johnson said 45% of his employees are Black, 25% are Latina, 30% are white and eight percent are Asian.

"It is the most diverse administration in the history of Chicago," Johnson said then. "Here's why I am naming this, there are some detractors that will push back on me and say, the only thing the mayor talks about is the hiring of Black people. No, what I'm saying is when you hire our people, we always look out for everybody else. We are the most generous people on the planet. I don't know too many cultures that have play cousins — that's how generous we are."

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in the letter that when Johnson highlighted the number of Black people in his office, it suggested that he made hiring decisions solely on race.

"If these kind of hiring decisions are being made for top-level positions in your administration, then it begs the question whether such decisions are also being made for lower-level positions," Dhillon wrote in the letter.

Johnson noted at Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn that "Business and economic neighborhood development, the deputy mayor is a Black woman. Department of planning and development is a Black woman" and "Infrastructure, deputy mayor is a Black woman. Chief operations officer is a Black man. Budget director is a Black woman. Senior advisor is a Black man."

The mayor's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Trump administration has previously launched similar campaigns against purported civil rights violations.

Like former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, Johnson has been critical of the administration since President Donald Trump took office. When Trump threatened to take away Chicago's federal funding due to its status as a sanctuary city, Johnson likened it to terrorism.

“Trying to force your will to break the spirit of working people in order to have a conversation — that’s terrorism," Johnson told a gaggle of reporters in April." And we’re not going to negotiate with terrorists."

One reporter clarified, and asked if Johnson was calling the president a terrorist, to which he said no.

“What I’m saying is trying to hold people hostage and manipulating them to succumb to his will and then hold up our tax dollars, that is how terrorists behave,” Johnson said.

"Outside of a 2016 Cubs World Series ring, I'm not kissing a ring," the mayor replied when asked whether he'd "kiss the ring" and meet with the Trump administration.

"The president of the United States of America has an open invitation to the fifth floor of the greatest freakin' city in the world, the city of Chicago," Johnson continued. "He can come talk to me."

###