Not even a direct threat from ISIS last summer can stop Chicago politicians from reaffirming their policy as a “sanctuary city” — and especially for Syrian refugees.

They did so last night — unanimously.

The City Council moved swiftly to admonish Gov. Bruce Rauner after he declared Syrian refugees would not be accommodated in Illinois due to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, France.

Ald. Edward Burke, the resolution’s chief sponsor, conceded the resolution was largely symbolic.

“We have as much power as the governor has, which is none. But, what we do have is the opportunity to go on the record in stating that Chicago, the most American of American cities, welcomes people in distress and trouble and tries to help, rather than demonizing them,” Burke said.

“[W]e the mayor and the members of the city council of the city of Chicago hereby reaffirm the city of Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city and its commitment to remain a place of sanctuary and refuge for refugees from around the world,” the resolution reads.

According to the resolution, “Half of the Syrian refugees brought to the United States have been children, a quarter are adults and approximately 2 percent are single males of combat age,” according to Progress Illinois.

“At every moment in American history, there has been a point where we have walked away from our values: the Alien-Sedition Act; Habeus Corpus; the Japanese internment and when the St. Louis boat from Germany turned kids away from these shores,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the City Council, the Sun Times reports.

“At every one of those dark moments, America was not stronger. America was weaker, because we actually wavered in our commitment to our values and who we are. For those who talk about putting a pause on our values, what built this country was not putting a pause on our values, our freedom and our ideals. It was doubling down and committing to those values because that is why America is still a beacon of hope.”

Emanuel said he was certain Rauner “got the message.”

Last year, “a post on Twitter, purportedly from somebody connected with Islamic State, showed a photo of the Old Republic Building, 307 N. Michigan Ave., in Chicago,” CBS 2 reported.

isis-tweet

The message read:

#AmessagefromISIStoUS
We are in your state
We are in your cities
We are in your streets

The Chicago city council apparently doesn’t watch the news, doesn’t have a functioning long-term memory, or isn’t concerned about the threat. Any of those don’t bode well for the residents of the Windy City.

Illinois has received 169 Syrian refugees since 2010, WGN reports.