Politics
Pritzker Denounces Ramped Up Aggressive Immigration Enforcement Raids, Calls Federal Agents ‘Thugs’
Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday that abuses committed by federal agents carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts have become “wider and more intense” during the past week of ramped up raids across Chicago and the suburbs.
“Our Chicagoland neighborhoods are being bombarded with tear gas, invaded by unidentified masked men in unmarked vehicles, thugs who are intimidating workers and children and grandparents, most of whom are Black or Brown, most of whom have committed no offense at all,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker signed an executive order on Oct. 23 forming the Illinois Accountability Commission and charged it with creating a “public record of abuses” committed by the president, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, border czar Tom Homan and Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino.
Pritzker, who is running for a third term as Illinois governor and has refused to rule out a run for president in 2028, demanded that the Trump administration pause what they call “Operation Midway Blitz” to allow children to celebrate Halloween for the next three days.
“I’m asking for basic human decency,” Pritzker said, addressing Bovino directly. “I think their response will be revealing. No child in America should have to go trick or treating in fear that they might be confronted with armed federal agents and have to inhale tear gas. I honestly can’t even believe that I have to make this plea. This is not the America that I know. I ask you to restore some sanity for the sake of our children.”
Noem flatly rejected Pritzker’s request during an news conference after an event in Gary, Indiana.
“We’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work we will do to keep communities safe,” Noem said. “The fact Gov. Pritzker is asking for that is shameful.”
“Instead of targeting undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of violent crimes, they have targeted families and children, burrito vendors, landscapers, delivery drivers, nannies, U.S. citizens, legal residents and longtime Chicagoans, people who have never broken the law,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker denounced the actions by federal agents on Saturday in Old Irving Park, when immigration agents deployed tear gas after residents protested their attempts to detain a construction worker.
“Armed, masked agents terrorizing innocent people, including children, is unconscionable,” Pritzker said, accusing agents of tearing apart families.
During Pritzker’s news conference, he aired a news report about a Cicero mother and father being detained during a traffic stop while shopping on the morning of their 10-year-old’s birthday.
“Hard working and law abiding but undocumented parents snatched away,” Pritzker said. “I want to ask everyone, who is the worst of the worst?”
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
