CHICAGO – Community activist and Chicago Against Violence founder Andre Smith may be a Democrat, but he says he’s willing to work with incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan to deport illegal immigrants from the Windy City. 

“I welcome in Chicago the border czar [Tom Homan],” Smith told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And [truth] be told, I wouldn’t mind working with him seeing that I was the first person in Chicago to stand up and fight against the migrants.”

Smith, who is also a preacher, has been on the front line of helping his community in Chicago, from helping the homeless population to fighting against local efforts by Mayor Brandon Johnson to disperse migrants throughout the city. 

CHICAGO RESIDENTS SLAM THE ‘STUPIDITY’ OF MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON’S LIBERAL POLICIES DURING CITY COUNCIL MEETING

“I would love when he come[s] to Chicago to work with him, and getting them expedited back where they came from,” Smith said of Homan. “Because to lie to a federal official is a federal offense, and if they came over on the pretenses of they are in fear of their life, then you have women, you have men, and all of them said they’re in fear for their life because someone is going trying to kill them, and lying, you have to make examples.”

Smith’s comments come as many Chicago residents have been outraged by “sanctuary city” policies that have brought in thousands of migrants to a city already plagued by one of the highest violent crime rates in the U.S.

“Here we are in Chicago, where we [are] supposed to be celebrating a season of joy, love and happiness,” Smith continued. “And a lot of people have Christmas trees and under their trees in Chicago. We are unwrapping gifts of neglect. We are unwrapping gifts of disappointment and heartaches. We are unwrapping gifts of $575 million of taxpayer dollars given to and misallocated to give to illegal migrants. We need solutions, and we need change.”

NEW DATA REVEALS AMERICA HAS TENS OF THOUSANDS OF NONCITIZENS FROM US ADVERSARY WITH DEPORTATION ORDERS

A group of migrants receives food outside the migrant landing zone during a winter storm on January 12, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Following President-elect Donald Trump’s re-election, Johnson — who allocated millions of dollars to migrant resources — vowed to defend the illegal migrants residing in Chicago, saying “we will not bend or break,” according to local news outlet WTTW. 

“Our values will remain strong and firm. We will face likely hurdles in our work over the next four years, but we will not be stopped, and we will not go back,” Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Homan spoke in Chicago last week and told local Republicans he wanted Illinois Democrats to “come to the table,” but if not to “get the hell out of the way.”

That comment sparked a fiery response from Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.

“Tom Homan, the next time you come to #IL03 — a district made stronger and more powerful by immigrants — you better be ready to meet the resistance,” she warned.

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR SAYS ‘VIOLENT’ ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS SHOULD BE DEPORTED, OPEN TO MEETING WITH TRUMP OFFICIALS

Incoming border czar Tom Homan spoke with Dr. Phil about the Trump administration’s plan to deport illegal migrants. (The Dr. Phil Podcast YouTube channel)

“You may think Chicago needs to get out of the way of Trump’s plans for mass deportation, but we plan to get ALL UP IN YOUR WAY.”

Ramirez’s comments add to a growing number of statements from Democratic leaders nationwide vowing to oppose or refuse cooperation with Trump’s mass deportation plans. 

But while Homan may face opposition from Illinois Democrats, there’s one Democratic leader willing to work with him: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. 

“Violent criminals who are undocumented and convicted of violent crime should be deported,” Pritzker said at a Northwest Side GOP gathering last week. “I do not want them in my state, I don’t think they should be in the United States.”

Pritzker, 59, is considered a potential 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and Pilar Arias contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: President-elect Donald Trump is suing the Des Moines Register and its top pollster J. Ann Selzer for “brazen election interference” and fraud over its final 2024 presidential poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa, despite his ultimate victory in the state by more than 13 percentage points, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The lawsuit was filed Monday night in Polk County, Iowa under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act and related provisions. It says it seeks “accountability for brazen election interference committed by” the Des Moines Register (DMR) and Selzer “in favor of now-defeated former Democrat candidate Kamala Harris through use of a leaked and manipulated Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted by Selzer and S&C and published by DMR and Gannett in the Des Moines Register on Nov. 2, 2024.” The lawsuit is also against the parent company of the Des Moines Register, Gannett, which also owns other publications, including USA Today.

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“Contrary to reality and defying credulity, defendants’ Harris Poll was published three days before Election Day and purported to show Harris leading President Trump in Iowa by three points; President Trump ultimately won Iowa by over thirteen points,” the lawsuit states. 

Selzer released her final Des Moines Register-sponsored poll of Iowa just three days before the election, on Nov. 2, showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points. That shock poll showed a seven-point shift from Trump to Harris from September, when he had a four-point lead over the vice president in the same poll. 

But Trump ultimately beat Harris in Iowa by more than 13 percentage points. 

Selzer’s poll, though, had been hyped up by the media ahead of the elections, as her polling predictions in previous elections had been historically accurate. 

Trump attorneys said Selzer’s prediction of Harris’ three point lead in “deep-red Iowa was not reality, it was election-interfering fiction.” 

Trump attorneys said Selzer had “prided herself on a mainstream reputation for accuracy despite several far less publicized egregious polling misses in favor of Democrats” and said she “would have the public believe it was merely a coincidence that one of the worst polling misses of her career came just days before the most consequential election in memory, was leaked and happened to go against the Republican candidate.” 

SHOCK POLL HAS HARRIS LEADING TRUMP IN IOWA WITH 3-POINT SHIFT TOWARD VICE PRESIDENT IN RED STATE

“The Harris Poll was no ‘miss’ but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election,” the lawsuit states, adding that “defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.” 

“Instead, the November 5 election was a monumental victory for President Trump in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote, an overwhelming mandate for his America First principles, and the consignment of the radical socialist agenda to the dustbin of history.” 

The lawsuit notes that Selzer, after more than 35 years in the industry, “retired in disgrace from polling less than two weeks after this embarrassing rout.” 

Trump lawyers argued that “left-wing pollsters have attempted to influence electoral outcomes through manipulated polls that have unacceptable error rates and are not grounded in widely accepted polling methodologies.” 

FORMER POLLSTER ANN SELZER HITS BACK AT CRITICISMS OVER IOWA POLL: ‘THEY ARE ACCUSING ME OF A CRIME’

“While Selzer is not the only pollster to engage in this corrupt practice, she had a huge platform and following and, thus, a significant and impactful opportunity to deceive voters,” the lawsuit states. “As Selzer knows, this type of manipulation creates a narrative of inevitability for Democrat candidates, increases enthusiasm among Democrats, compels Republicans to divert campaign time and money to areas in which they are ahead, and deceives the public into believing that Democrat candidates are performing better than they really are.” 

The lawsuit states that Democrats’ “need for fake polling was even more acute than usual in the 2024 Election, given Harris’s many fatal weaknesses as a candidate and lack of appeal to critical swaths of the traditional Democrat base.” 

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.  (AP/Evan Vucci)

Trump attorneys are suing under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, alleging that defendants “engaged in an ‘unfair act or practice’ because the publication and release of the Harris Poll ‘caused substantial, unavoidable injury to consumers that was not outweighed by any consumer or competitive benefits which the practice produced.’” 

They also said consumers were “badly deceived and misled as to the actual position of the respective candidates in the Iowa Presidential race.” 

“Moreover, President Trump, the Trump 2024 Campaign, and other Republicans were forced to divert enormous campaign and financial resources to Iowa based on the deceptive Harris Poll,” the lawsuit states, adding that consumers of the Des Moines Register and Iowans who contributed to Trump’s 2024 campaign were “similarly deceived.” 

Trump is demanding actual damages upon trial of the case; statutory damages three times the actual damages suffered; an order enjoining defendants’ “ongoing deceptive and misleading acts and practices relating to the Harris Poll and compelling defendants to disclose all information upon which they relied to engage in the deceptive and misleading acts relating to the Harris Poll; attorneys’ fees and costs associated with the case; and any other relief as deemed just and proper by the court. 

The lawsuit Monday night comes just hours after the president-elect said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago that he planned to sue the Des Moines Register and Selzer. 

The lawsuit comes days after ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos reached a settlement with Trump in his defamation suit, resulting in the network paying the president-elect $15 million. 

The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing the agreement to avoid a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past.” 

Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump’s attorney fees. 

Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of “regret” as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit. The note reads, “ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.”

George Stephanopoulos speaks during ABC’s “This Week.” (ABC/Paula Lobo via Getty Images)

ABC News said the network was “pleased” to have concluded the case.

“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The Des Moines Register lawsuit and the ABC News settlement come after a string of legal victories for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal adviser Boris Epshteyn.

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan recently granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s recent request to dismiss his case against Trump related to the 2020 election. Smith also tossed his appeal in the classified records case on Monday after a federal judge dismissed the charges altogether in July, ruling that he was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.

In New York v. Trump, Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case and removed the sentencing date for the president-elect from the schedule. 

Merchan on Monday night rejected Trump’s July request to overturn the guilty verdict based on presidential immunity. Merchan has not yet ruled on Trump’s official motion to dismiss the charges altogether. 

Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, stating the network practiced “deceptive conduct” for the purpose of election interference in its interview in October with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced the departure of his chief of staff Dana Williamson and tapped Nathan Barankin, a former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, as the fourth person to fill the top job in six years.

The Democratic leader is making the switch from one seasoned Sacramento operator to another with added experience in Washington as he begins his final two-year stretch as California governor and speculation mounts about his political future.

“I greatly appreciate Dana’s counsel and her service to the state and the people of California over the last two years,” Newsom said in a statement. “I’m honored to welcome Nathan — his leadership and vision will ensure our administration continues delivering on our promise to create a more affordable, healthy, and prosperous California.”

Barankin, who is married to Newsom’s Cabinet secretary Ann Patterson, left his consulting firm and joined the governor’s office two months ago as a senior advisor in an elongated transition. He served as a senior advisor to Harris during her failed 2020 presidential bid, as her chief of staff in the U.S. Senate and worked as her right hand in the California attorney general’s office.

Compared to prior governors, Newsom has experienced particularly high staff turnover. Each of Barankin’s predecessors in Newsom’s office held the fast-paced and demanding role for about two years.

“It’s a high-burnout job,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist who worked for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and described Barankin as a “well-experienced, even-keeled, steady hand.”

“I can’t think of who would have been a better choice,” he said.

The governor surprised California politicos in 2018 when he hired Ann O’Leary, a Washington, D.C., policy veteran and longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, as his first chief of staff despite her lack of familiarity with Sacramento. O’Leary stepped aside after lifting his administration off the ground, battling against then-President Trump and managing the state’s response through the first turbulent year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Newsom went in the opposite direction when he hired Jim DeBoo, a veteran political operative with experience working inside and outside California government, as O’Leary’s replacement at the end of 2020. DeBoo helped stabilize the governor’s relationships with lawmakers and interest groups and navigate the state’s path to post-pandemic normalcy. He guided Newsom’s team as the governor survived a GOP effort to recall him from office in 2021 and sailed through his 2022 reelection to a second term.

Williamson joined Newsom’s office in DeBoo’s stead in early 2023 with a reputation as a smart and tough Cabinet secretary to former Gov. Jerry Brown. She took over at a time when California’s budget outlook swiftly changed from surplus to shortage and Newsom was forced to cut programs and delay funding for some of his policy promises.

She led the governor’s political fight with the oil industry, facilitated deals between business and labor over fast-food workers’ wages and workplace lawsuits and provided a steady hand in Sacramento while Newsom traveled around the country during the 2024 presidential election.

“It’s always hard to leave this work, but in two short years, we’ve made a lasting impact,” Williamson said in a statement. “I’ve had the honor of serving under three governors and when asked what I will miss the most, my answer is always the same — the privilege of working with some of the smartest and most committed people I’ve ever known. I’m grateful for every day that I’ve had.”

Barankin takes the reins as Newsom braces for battle against the incoming Trump administration over abortion access, climate change programs and disaster assistance, among other anticipated tussles and the potential loss of billions in federal funding that threatens to worsen California’s grim future budget outlook.

The new chief of staff will also face the charge of cementing a positive legacy for the 40th governor of a state beset by homelessness, a housing crisis and other big-picture problems, while Newsom sets himself up for a possible run for president in 2028.

“I am deeply humbled to step into this role at a time of both challenge and opportunity,” Barankin said. “As chief of staff, my focus will be on serving the people of California by advancing the governor’s bold agenda to create jobs, ensure safe neighborhoods, and improve the health and well-being of every family in our state.”