Immigrant rights advocates pressured Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday to deliver on her promise to eliminate “carve-outs” in Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance and portrayed Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) as a major roadblock.

When the ordinance was introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Lopez demanded it be sent to the Committee on Public Safety. Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), the chief sponsor, preferred the Committee on Human Relations.

Because of the jurisdictional dispute, the ordinance was sent to the Rules Committee, the traditional burial ground for legislation opposed by the mayor.

At the time, it looked like an outgrowth of the bitter political feud between Lopez and Ramirez-Rosa, which has played out on Twitter and Facebook.

But Lopez said his opposition to eliminating the four carve-outs isn’t about petty politics, but his legitimate concerns about public safety.

Currently, Chicago Police officers are permitted to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement if targeted individuals: are the subject of outstanding criminal warrants; have felony convictions; have pending felony prosecutions; or their names are in the city’s error-filled gang database.

Lopez said he’s “open” to eliminating the first two exceptions, but said it would be downright dangerous to get rid of the others.

“We are opening the door to give safe passage to individuals who are, in some cases, the architects of the violence that we see in communities like Brighton Park and Back of the Yards,” Lopez said Thursday.

“I’m not against people trying to pursue the American dream. But if you are here running guns, being gang members and causing havoc in our neighborhoods, I am hard-pressed to lump that group in with the group trying to do the right thing. It is insulting to me and to many people I represent.”

Ramirez-Rosa accused Lopez of using “the same ugly rhetoric that Donald Trump uses to criminalize our communities.”

He argued the ordinance belongs in the Committee on Human Relations, whose chairman is one of 32 co-sponsors; once there, it’ll pass with flying colors.

“The momentum is here. The coalition is strong. The mayor’s commitment was very clear on the campaign trail,” Ramirez-Rosa said, as the crowd behind him cheered.

Destiny Miranda, a youth leader with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, accused Lopez of “stalling” the ordinance, leaving undocumented immigrants afraid to move their cars or leave their homes “with the threat of raids hanging over them.”

Antonio Gutierrez described himself as one of those living in fear.

“Due to a DUI from eight years ago, I am at threat of being transferred by the Chicago Police Department into ICE custody at any point. And I am not alone. There are thousands of Chicago residents that have made a mistake and been criminalized by a system that was created to do that,” Gutierrez said.

Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to eliminate all four “carve-outs” during her first 100 days in office. But she has refused to sign an executive order that would add a layer of protection from federal raids, citing demands that she also abolish the gang database. She favors correcting mistakes in the database while recognizing what she called the “need for intelligence.”

“It would be easy to pander to the crowd. But I want to do this in a way that’s actually gonna be meaningful and structural and lasting. And that can’t be done overnight,” the mayor has said.

“If you think about terrorism, which as mayor, I do think about. I worry about — there can be legitimate purposes for collecting that data. But, that’s the rub. Legitimate purposes.”

On Thursday, Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd) argued the database and carve-outs are “two separate issues.” He’s not concerned about Lightfoot taking her time to tackle both at once.

“This is about the fact that we have the wind at our sails. On the campaign trail, in meetings recently, the mayor has expressed her full support of getting rid of these carve-outs,” Rodriguez said.

“We’re confident … that we’ll be able to get the ordinance out of Rules very swiftly and we’ll be working with the mayor’s office on a timeline to get this passed, hopefully in September.”

Also Thursday, Lightfoot appointed Nubia Willman as director of the city’s Office of New Americans. Willman currently oversees Legal Aid Chicago’s Immigration Project.