‘He wants mayhem’: Pritzker criticizes Trump, defends Illinois’ immigration policy
In a much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of terrorizing the state’s schools, neighborhoods and families.
Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Pritzker promised to stand between federal border czar Tom Homan and Illinoisans “who don’t deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don’t deserve to be threatened.”
“I would rather he came and arrested me than do that to the people of my state,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker joined Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul before the Republican-led committee. Also fielding questions was Skye Perryman, president and CEO of the Democracy Forward legal organization.
Thursday’s often-combative hearing was orchestrated to call out the three Democratic governors for what Chair James Comer of Kentucky called “sanctuary policies.”
Those policies, Comer said, “do not protect Americans. They protect criminal illegal aliens.” Comer went on to talk about Katherine Abraham, a Glenview woman killed earlier this year in an Urbana hit-and-run crash that also left another woman fatally injured. The Guatemalan man police and prosecutors say was responsible for the crash was arrested with falsified documents days later in Texas on a bus headed to Mexico.
Comer said the governors “willfully ignore federal law” by not cracking down on people living in their states who entered the U.S. illegally.
In a more than 4-minute opening statement, Pritzker testified violent crime is down in Illinois and said violent criminals have no place on its streets.
“And if they are undocumented, I want them out of Illinois and out of our country,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said he’s proud of how Illinois has responded to what he called a “broken immigration system,” saying the state has promoted public safety, treated people with dignity and respected the rule of law.
Pritzker also spoke of his family’s immigrant roots, telling the committee about how his great-grandfather came to the U.S. to escape persecution of Jews in Ukraine. He said Illinoisans value “the most American ideal of all — that where your life began matters far less than the dreams you can realize here for yourself and your family.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, who helped introduce Pritzker at the start of the hearing, spoke of the Illinois’ Trust Act, which prevents local, county or state law enforcement agencies from participating in or supporting federal immigration enforcement operations without judicial warrants. The Justice Department has sued Illinois over the Trust Act.
Pritzker said Illinois follows the law. He accused President Donald Trump of bypassing the authority of local law enforcement agencies and California Gov. Gavin Newsom by ordering National Guard troops and active duty Marines to Los Angeles to quell immigration-related protests and stop violence in recent days.
“He wants mayhem in the streets,” Pritzker said. “Why did he call in Marines?”
Pritzker said the current deportation efforts have had a “profoundly negative impact” on Illinois. The immigration raids that occurred in the week after Trump’s inauguration in January drove people into hiding, Pritzker said, including U.S. citizens who didn’t want to be forced to reveal information about migrants they know.
Republican U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama called the governors’ resistance to Trump’s immigration policies a national security threat and suggested they be charged with obstruction of justice.
Some committee members dragged issues unrelated to immigration into the discussion — such as when Krishnamoorthi asked Pritzker about how Illinoisans would be affected by the spending cuts in the proposed federal budget, or when Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas repeatedly asked Pritzker about his stance on men using women’s bathrooms.
“I’m not sure how this has to do with immigration,” Pritzker responded.