Chicago Mayor Johnson Blames Automakers for Car Thefts

The left’s blame game for rampant crime and chaos in Democrat-run cities continues to reach new levels of absurdity.

In the latest example, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has filed a lawsuit against car manufacturers Kia and Hyundai, blaming them for the drastic surge in car thefts throughout the Windy City.

In a statement about the suit, Johnson alleges that the two automakers failed “to install basic auto-theft prevention technology… and as a result, a citywide and nationwide crime spree around automobile theft has been unfolding right before our eyes.”

On the latter point, Johnson is indeed correct. In 2019, there were just under 9,000 car thefts in Chicago. By 2022, that figure had jumped to over 21,000 – a 139 percent spike in just three years. 2023 is shaping up to be even worse.

Johnson is also right that a significant portion of those thefts have been of specific Kia and Hyundai vehicles. Most Kia 2011 to 2021 models and most Hyundai 2016 to 2021 models lack a common security device called an engine immobilizer, making them much easier to steal. As a result, thieves can break a window and steal the vehicles in less than a minute.

Many of the vehicle thefts are committed by teens who film the crimes and post them on social media. One particularly notorious band of thieves, who call themselves the “Kia Boys,” boast that they have stolen more than 10,000 cars. A viral YouTube video showing several members of the group stealing and crashing cars in broad daylight has more than 7 million views.

In that clip, an interviewer asks one of the Kia Boys, who says he has personally stolen more than 200 cars, if he’s scared of going to prison. “You only gonna do like three weeks. It’s a misdemeanor,” he responds.

“So, is there really no punishment for this?” the interviewer asks.

“Hell nah.”

And therein lies the problem that Mayor Johnson failed to acknowledge in his statement – namely, that it is his policies which are actively encouraging people to break the law.

“We know why they’re stealing these cars. We know what they’re doing with these cars, but the fact that we refuse to call out this behavior, and we’re giving cover to the criminals, seems to just be another liberal ploy,” Alderman Raymond Lopez – a fellow Democrat – told Fox News. “And to be perfectly honest, [it’s] a page from the socialist playbook because we’re blaming the manufacturer of the cars rather than the criminals on the street.”

This isn’t the first time Johnson has refused outright to acknowledge what the true problem is. Early last month, the mayor snapped at a reporter for calling a group of teenage rioters a “mob.”

“That’s not appropriate,” Johnson barked. “These are large gatherings. It’s important that we speak of these dynamics in an appropriate way.”

During the incident Johnson was referring to, hundreds of teenagers had flooded Chicago’s South Loop, blocking traffic, damaging vehicles, and looting a local convenience store. Several guns were found on the scene.

But the left’s absurd blame game isn’t limited to just Chicago. Last Friday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that widespread retail theft in the city has “nothing to do” with a lack of consequences for crime and “things like this happen” when there are profits.

Bass pointed specifically to smash-and-grab thefts at high-end retail stores. “They are not selling $10,000 purses in poor communities. They’re selling those purses online,” she said. “And so, we need to look at the online sales of stolen property, because that’s what it is.”

In other words, according to Bass, the best way to reduce theft isn’t to punish the criminals, but to shut down the websites where they are selling the stolen merchandise – after which the criminals will undoubtedly create new websites or find other ways to offload the goods.

It’s safe to say that most Chicago and Los Angeles residents want the rash of car break-ins and retail theft to stop. No one likes living in fear in cities rapidly descending into anarchy.

Yet the law-abiding citizens bearing the brunt of the crime surge have also evidently not accepted their own responsibility in their plight. In April, Chicago voters had a chance to elect Paul Vallas, a moderate Democrat who promised a tougher approach to crime. Instead, they elected Johnson, an open supporter of the “Defund the Police” movement who fully embraced the left’s radical criminal justice “reform” agenda.

In Los Angeles, voters elected Bass on a similar platform, and have twice failed to recall radical George Soros-backed District Attorney George Gascon.

Until voters stop giving power to people who are actively and openly dismantling the criminal justice system and protecting criminals over victims, more and more crime will be the inevitable result.

Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on Twitter @ShaneHarris513.