A Democratic city leader in Chicago admitted his party's leadership is "tone-deaf" in its response to crime.
Raymond Lopez, Democratic Chicago alderman, told Fox News that residents in the city are being "hunted down like prey." The comments come after a state law went into effect last month that ended cash bail, putting criminals on the streets soon after being arrested.
Lopez said that "things like robbery, burglary, arson, assault, even threatening elected officials like myself, do not warrant you being held on bond anymore in the state of Illinois, and criminals are taking note."
Voters are seeing that when they elect "socialists or ultra progressives," Lopez said, they're rewarded with "tone-deaf leadership."
An analysis by the Washington Free Beacon found that several violent arrestees have already been released under the policy, known as the SAFE-T Act, which passed in 2021 but underwent several legal challenges. Out of 102 county prosecutors in Illinois, 100 opposed the law.
"They become emboldened," Lopez said, "and the deafening cry is not heard by the politicians demanding change. They only sit back as you saw, and try to stick to the script, even when the public refuses to participate."
The House Judiciary Committee recently convened a hearing on Chicago, where crime has shot up in recent months. Democrats failed to attend the hearing and the state's Democrat governor J.B. Pritzker said the committee engaged in "fearmongering and lies."