Politics
Gov. JB Pritzker Defends Protections for Undocumented Immigrants to Congress, Urges GOP to Fix ‘Broken Immigration System’
Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday steadfastly defended Illinois’ handling of the migrant crisis and laws designed to protect undocumented immigrants, urging Republicans on the U.S. House Oversight Committee to help him fix the nation’s “broken immigration system.”
Pritzker appeared alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul at an ongoing hearing before the U.S. House Oversight Committee. All three are Democrats, and Walz was the 2024 Democratic nominee for vice president.
U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), the committee’s chair, began the hearing by decrying the death of Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who was killed in a January car crash. Julio Cucul Bol, who authorities said entered in country with false documents, has been charged in connection with Abraham’s death.
Comer accused Pritzker of turning Chicago into a “haven for drugs and crimes” by protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation. However, homicides dropped 28% during the first five months of 2025, and the number of shootings dropped 35%, as compared with the first five months of 2024, city records show.
Comer accused all three governors of prioritizing “criminal illegal aliens over the American people.”
Pritzker’s appearance is the latest flashpoint in Illinois’ ongoing battle with the GOP-controlled U.S House and the Trump administration, which is attempting to strip self-proclaimed sanctuary cities of all federal funding.
“I have seen firsthand how states have had to shoulder the consequences of a broken immigration system,” Pritzker said. “I’m proud of how we have responded by promoting public safety, treating people with dignity, supporting our economy and respecting the rule of law.”
The hearing also came as Chicago and cities across the nation brace for large-scale protests on Saturday against President Donald Trump and his efforts to use federal agents to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Trump ordered U.S. Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after days of protests and unrest.
“It’s wrong to deploy the National Guard and active-duty Marines into an American city over the objection of local law enforcement, just to inflame a situation and create a crisis,” Pritzker said. “Just as it’s wrong to tear children away from their homes and their mothers and fathers who have spent decades living and working in our communities, raising their families.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, has threatened to arrest Newsom for opposing Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Walz, Hochul and Pritzker said they understood they could be the next elected officials to face arrest by Homan.
“First of all, I would say, he can try,” Pritzker said. “I will tell you I will stand in the way of Tom Homan going after people who don’t deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don’t deserve to be threatened, terrorized. I would rather that he came and arrested me than do that to the people of my state.”
Illinois follows all federal laws, Pritzker said.
“But let me be clear: We expect the federal government to follow the law, too,” Pritzker said. “We will not participate in abuses of power. We will not violate court orders. We will not ignore the Constitution. We will not defy the Supreme Court. We will not take away people’s rights to peacefully protest.”
In his written opening statement, Pritzker said there was plenty of blame to go around for the migrant crisis that sent approximately 50,000 people, many fleeing violence and economic collapse in Venezuela, to Chicago hoping to build a new life. Instead, they found a city with an already tattered social safety net and deep fissures between Black and Latino communities.
At the peak of the humanitarian crisis, in October 2023, nearly 3,900 men, women and children lived in Chicago’s police stations, with thousands more in emergency shelters. After requesting asylum, many came to Chicago on buses paid for by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a successful attempt to split the Democratic Party before the 2024 presidential election.
“Some border state politicians chose to treat them as political pawns, busting them to states like mine and dropping them off in the dead of night in the freezing cold,” Pritzker told the committee. “Illinois chose a different path, faced with a humanitarian crisis, our state made sure children and families did not go hungry or freeze to death.”
Pritzker, who has yet to announce whether he will run for a third term as Illinois governor and is widely considered to be weighing a run for president in 2028, has opposed Trump at every opportunity and accused his fellow Democrats of not doing enough to block the presidents’ efforts.
Pritzker told the committee that the state law that prohibits state and local law enforcement officers from assisting federal immigration agents, known as the Trust Act, makes all Illinois residents safer.
“We want our law enforcement officers focusing on their actual jobs while empowering all members of the public — regardless of immigration status — to feel comfortable calling law enforcement to seek help, report crimes and cooperate in investigations,” Pritzker said. “It is important that all members of the community trust law enforcement. Prosecuting criminals and preventing crime in our communities becomes exponentially harder when victims or witnesses do not come forward because they are undocumented and afraid of law enforcement.”
Illinois law enforcement agents have always complied with judicial warrants executed by federal agents and will continue to do so, Pritzker said.
“Violent criminals have no place on our streets; if they are undocumented, we want them out of Illinois and out of our country,” Pritzker said. “When the federal government has a judge-signed warrant for a criminal’s arrest, we work to assist them, regardless of that criminal’s immigration status. But what we will not do is participate in any violations of the law or abuses of power. We will uphold the law, and we will continue to prioritize precious local and state law enforcement resources for fighting crime.”
While the governors largely fielded softball questions from their fellow Democrats, the Republican members of the committee peppered them with a wide range of questions, including former President Joe Biden’s health and whether they recognized the names of specific people they said were undocumented immigrants charged with crimes.
U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) asked Pritzker about whether he supported laws allowing people to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
“You’re admitting that this is just a political circus,” Pritzker told Gill.
The hearing, which stretched for nearly eight hours, erupted into chaos after U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) was forcibly removed from a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and tackled to the ground and handcuffed.
After U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago) played the video of Padilla being wrestled to the ground, Pritzker said he was outraged.
“I cannot believe the disrespect that was shown to a United States senator,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker clashed with U.S. Reps. Mary Miller (R-Quincy) and Lauren Boebert after they pressed him about the protests and unrest in Los Angeles. Both are stalwart supporters of Trump.
Pritzker told both he would not be lectured by them, noting that Boebert supported the president’s decision to pardon those convicted of participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and attempted to remind Miller that she approvingly quoted Adolf Hitler.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
