WASHINGTON — With the backdrop of federal immigration raids and protests in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker sparred with Republican legislators Thursday in Washington, telling Home Oversight committee members Thursday that Illinois isn’t a spot for violent criminals who lack authorized standing — and it’ll not tolerate “abuses of energy.”
The Democratic governor additionally staunchly defended the state’s TRUST Act, which was signed by his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The legislation bars legislation enforcement all through the state from collaborating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers. Town of Chicago has the same ordinance in place.
Pritzker was summoned to look earlier than the GOP-led U.S. Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee Thursday morning alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The purpose is for U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the congressional committee, and different key Republicans on the committee to grill — and undoubtedly rating some political factors — concerning the Democrats’ immigration insurance policies.
Ninety minutes into the listening to, Republicans had reserved most of their interrogation for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. However GOP Texas Rep. Brandon Gill went on the offensive in opposition to Pritzker with rapid-fire questions starting from the price of offering well being care to individuals in Illinois with out authorized standing, as to if the governor helps Hamas.
“I’ve spent my life combating antisemitism,” Pritzker mentioned. “I do know Republicans wish to take away individuals’s proper to free speech. We don’t in Illinois.”
Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds slammed the governor for not figuring out the particular price of offering providers for immigrants — a determine that Mayor Brandon Johnson couldn’t pull for Donalds when the Chicago mayor was summoned to D.C. to testify earlier than the identical committee earlier this 12 months.
“I feel this could be an Illinois drawback,” Donalds mentioned.
At one level, Gill diverted the subject of the listening to as to if the governor helps males utilizing girls’s loos, with Gill asking Pritzker if he’s ever used a girls’s lavatory.
“Not that I can recall,” Pritzker mentioned with fun.
Earlier, the Illinois governor began on a private notice, sharing the story of his great-grandfather’s immigration to the US from Ukraine — and shifted to the offensive in opposition to President Donald Trump’s administration and its dealing with of protests in Los Angeles in opposition to Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
“As we’re reminded in Los Angeles this week, we will all agree that violence of any sort, whomever it’s directed at, is unacceptable. Individuals should be held accountable to the legislation. Illinois follows the legislation, however let me clear, we anticipate the federal authorities to comply with the legislation, too,” Pritzker mentioned.
“We is not going to take part in abuses of energy. We is not going to violate courtroom orders. We is not going to ignore the Structure. We is not going to defy the Supreme Courtroom. We is not going to take away individuals’s proper to peacefully protest. We additionally respect and anticipate this administration to respect the traditions and authorized precedents that dictate how and when our Nationwide Guard and navy are deployed,” he mentioned.
“It’s fallacious to deploy the Nationwide Guard and energetic responsibility marines into an American metropolis over the objection of native legislation enforcement simply to inflame a scenario and create a disaster, simply because it’s fallacious to tear kids away from their properties and their moms and dads, who’ve spent many years dwelling and dealing in our communities, elevating their households.”
In a five-page opening assertion to the committee, Pritzker highlighted the state’s response to the migrant disaster and touted lowering crime numbers in Illinois, in an effort to deal with the unproven rhetoric that immigrants who lack authorized standing are a significant supply of violence.
“Violent criminals haven’t any place on our streets; if they’re undocumented, we would like them out of Illinois and out of our nation,” Pritzker mentioned. “When the federal authorities has a judge-signed warrant for a felony’s arrest, we work to help them, no matter that felony’s immigration standing. However what we is not going to do is take part in any violations of the legislation or abuses of energy. We’ll uphold the legislation, and we are going to proceed to prioritize treasured native and state legislation enforcement sources for combating crime.”
The governor pinned the disaster on the southern border on “some” border state governors and mayors who “deserted our nation’s highest beliefs — as an alternative selecting to spend tens of millions of taxpayer {dollars} to deal with individuals as pawns.”
Pritzker blamed each Democrats and Republicans for missing a complete immigration coverage, which he outlined in an October 2023 letter to President Joe Biden as a failure that “created an unprecedented pressure on Illinois’ sources.”
“The state of Illinois selected a distinct path,” Pritzker mentioned. “With individuals’s lives at stake — kids, pregnant girls, and the aged who had been despatched to our state in the dark, dropped exterior removed from our designated consumption and welcome facilities, in freezing temperatures — and a federal authorities that was unwilling to handle the nationwide disaster in any significant manner, we knew would couldn’t merely ignore the struggling proper in entrance of us.”
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi — a northwest suburban Democrat who’s operating a major marketing campaign for the Senate in opposition to Pritzker’s lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton — got here to Pritzker’s protection with an overview of Illinois’ current credit score upgrades and a folksy celebration of home-state heroes.
“Illinois is the guts and soul of America, governor,” Krishnamoorthi mentioned. “It was the house of fantastic leaders: Lincoln, Reagan, Obama, Grant, even Superman, and sure, da pope,” he mentioned, holding up a poster-size copy of a Chicago Solar-Instances entrance web page with Pope Leo XIV.
“There you go. Illinois has terrific jobs, individuals and pizza. Some might even say that God is on our facet,” Krishnamoorthi mentioned.
The governor has been in Washington since Monday, making ready for his testimony with an out of doors legislation agency and a small group of trusted staffers. Dana Remus, former White Home counsel to President Joe Biden, was amongst these serving to Pritzker put together for the committee, with the billionaire governor paying for the providers of Covington & Burling out of his personal pocket.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Wednesday mentioned she anticipated Pritzker to name for upholding the Structure and for complete immigration reform.
“I feel he’ll arise for the values of Illinois. That we’re a state that’s welcoming, that’s law-abiding. That’s welcoming of people that wish to be part of our communities, and that we uphold legislation and order. However we additionally uphold the Structure,” Duckworth mentioned. “Sure, we have to do away with violent criminals, however on the identical time, we shouldn’t be ripping youngsters, American-born kids, away from their mothers.”
Growing, this story shall be up to date. Tina Sfondeles reporting from Washington, Mitchell Armentrout reporting from Chicago.
