Carlos Ramirez-Rosa

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (born February 18, 1989) is an American politician.

Ramirez-Rosa was born on February 18, 1989, in Chicago, Illinois.

He attended Chicago Public Schools and graduated from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, where he was his senior class president.

He then attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was an elected member of the Illinois Student Senate.

As an elected student senator, he supported funding for women and LGBT student programs, campus green energy policies, and fair treatment of university employees.

He graduated from the University of Illinois in 2011.

After graduating, he served as a congressional caseworker in the office of Congressman Luis Gutiérrez.

On April 8, 2014, Ramirez-Rosa was arrested while attempting to block a deportation bus leaving Broadview Detention Center in Broadview, Illinois.

The arrest was part of the "Not One More" campaign to pressure President Barack Obama to stop deportations.

Ramirez-Rosa said at the time of his arrest: "I'm a U.S. citizen. I don’t fear deportation, but I know that when you're taking hard-working and decent people, putting them in detention centers and then putting them on buses and separating them from their families, that is an act of injustice."

Prior to his election to the Chicago City Council, Ramirez-Rosa also served as an elected community representative to the Avondale-Logandale Local School Council.

He has served as the Alderperson for Chicago's 35th Ward since May 18, 2015.

He was first elected to the Council in 2015, become one of the chamber's youngest members ever elected at age 26.

After working for Congressman Gutiérrez, he worked as a family support network organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights until he ran for alderman in 2015.

Ramirez-Rosa was first elected the alderman of the 35th ward on February 24, 2015.

He received 67% of the vote, defeating incumbent alderman Rey Colón.

In 2015, Ramirez-Rosa opposed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s record $589 million property tax increase, arguing that the city should have "emptied out hundreds of millions in TIF funds before raising property taxes and fees on Chicago's working families."

In August 2015, Ramirez-Rosa was a founding member of the Chicago Immigration Policy Working Group.

Ramirez-Rosa and the working group successfully pushed the City of Chicago to provide free or low-cost legal assistance to Chicagoans facing deportation, provide support for DACA applicants, expand language access, and create a municipal ID.

In 2021, Ramirez-Rosa and the working group succeeded in removing the carveouts from Chicago's sanctuary city ordinance, ensuring the Chicago Police Department could not work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in any case.

Ramirez-Rosa co-sponsored the successful measure alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Ramirez-Rosa is a member of the Chicago City Council's Progressive Reform Caucus, and was elected to serve as a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention as a Bernie Sanders supporter.

After a year as alderman, Crain's Chicago Business distinguished Ramirez-Rosa as a member of their 2016 "Twenty in their 20s" class.

In 2023, Crain's Chicago Business distinguished Ramirez-Rosa as one the year's "40 Under 40."

During his tenure, Ramirez-Rosa has championed housing affordability, property tax relief, immigrant rights, workers' rights, environmental protections, police accountability reform, and other progressive and liberal issues.

Ramirez-Rosa voted no on Mayor Emanuel's 2016 budget proposal and property tax increase.

After the property tax increase passed, Ramirez-Rosa proposed a $35 million property tax rebate for struggling homeowners.

Ultimately, Ramirez-Rosa joined with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to sponsor and pass a $21 million property tax rebate program.

Ramirez-Rosa said of the compromise: "this proposal ensures that the poorest homeowners who see the largest property-tax increase get the maximum rebate."

He joined the Democratic Socialists of America in March 2017.

He is the nephew of Cook County Judge Ramon Ocasio III, and Chicanas of 18th Street author and activist Magda Ramirez-Castaneda.

Ramirez-Rosa's mother is of Mexican descent and his father is of Puerto Rican descent.

He was re-elected in 2019 and 2023.

He was easily re-elected to a second four-year term on February 28, 2019, and to a third term on February 28, 2023.

He is a member of the Chicago City Council's Progressive Reform Caucus, Latino Caucus, the LGBT Caucus, and the inaugural chair and dean of the Council’s Democratic Socialist Caucus.

He is one of the council's youngest current alderman, one of the youngest aldermen in the history of Chicago, and one of the city's first two openly LGBT Latino councilors alongside colleague Raymond Lopez.

In November 2019, Ramirez-Rosa was one of eleven aldermen to vote against Mayor Lori Lightfoot's first budget.

He joined all five other members of the Socialist Caucus in signing a letter to Lightfoot which criticized her budget for "an over-reliance on property taxes" and "regressive funding models" that are "burdensome to our working-class citizens, while giving the wealthy and large corporations a pass."

He served as an Illinois State Vice-Chair for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign.

He is a self-described democratic socialist and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.