The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans (JCCIA) said Mayor Lightfoot and the City of Chicago removed Christopher Columbus statues this past summer without jurisdiction. Attorneys for the JCCIA said they found paperwork from over fifty years ago, which included a signed agreement that stated, "The Park District will, in perpetuity, obtain the written approval of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans before making any substantial change to Columbus Plaza or the statue."

However, the committee says that was not the case. The Arrigo Park statue was removed in the middle of the night in July, without written notice, attorneys said. The President of the JCCIA, Ron Onesti, wrote a letter to the Chicago Park District Board and its Legal Counsel stating that due to the agreement between the committee and the Chicago Park District, the City of Chicago and Mayor Lightfoot had no jurisdiction to remove the statues.