WASHINGTON — With the backdrop of federal immigration raids and protests in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker sparred with Republican legislators Thursday, telling House Oversight committee members Thursday that Illinois isn’t a place for violent criminals who lack legal status — and it will not tolerate “abuses of power.”
The Democratic governor also staunchly defended the state’s TRUST Act, which was signed by his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The law bars law enforcement throughout the state from collaborating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The city of Chicago has a similar ordinance in place.
Pritzker was summoned to appear before the GOP-led U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday morning alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The goal is for U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the congressional committee, and other key Republicans on the committee to grill — and undoubtedly score some political points — about the Democrats’ immigration policies.
Almost two hours into the hearing, GOP Texas Rep. Brandon Gill went on the offensive against Pritzker with rapid-fire questions ranging from the cost of providing health care to people in Illinois without legal status, to whether the governor supports Hamas.
“Sir, I do not. They are a terrorist organization,” Pritzker responded. “I have spent my life fighting antisemitism... I know Republicans want to take away people’s right to free speech. We don’t in Illinois.”
Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds slammed the governor for not knowing the specific cost of providing services for immigrants — a figure that Mayor Brandon Johnson couldn’t pull for Donalds when the Chicago mayor was summoned to D.C. to testify before the same committee earlier this year.
“I think this might be an Illinois problem,” Donalds said.
At one point, Gill diverted the topic of the hearing to whether the governor supports men using women’s bathrooms, with Gill asking Pritzker if he’s ever used a women’s bathroom.
“Not that I can recall,” Pritzker said with a laugh. He accused Gill of “admitting that this is just a political circus.”
He and Walz were at turns called “arrogant” and “smug” by GOP lawmakers during the marathon hearing, which at one point saw Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Alabama, accuse the governors of being a threat to national security over their sanctuary policies.
“You’re in violation of federal law... Charges should be brought for obstruction, should be brought against each one of you for doing this,” Palmer said. “I’ll leave that up to the Department of Justice.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, interjected to call Palmer’s statement “a point of intimidation.”
Earlier, Pritzker started on a personal note, sharing the story of his great-grandfather’s immigration to the United States from Ukraine — and shifted to the offensive against President Donald Trump’s administration and its handling of protests in Los Angeles against Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
“As we are reminded in Los Angeles this week, we can all agree that violence of any kind, whomever it is directed at, is unacceptable. People must be held accountable to the law. Illinois follows the law, but let me 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 right to peacefully protest. We also respect and expect this administration to respect the traditions and legal precedents that dictate how and when our National Guard and military are deployed,” he said.
“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, 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.”
In a five-page opening statement to the committee, Pritzker highlighted the state’s response to the migrant crisis and touted decreasing crime numbers in Illinois, in an effort to tackle the unproven rhetoric that immigrants who lack legal status are a major source of violence.
“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.”
The governor pinned the crisis at the southern border on “some” border state governors and mayors who “abandoned our nation’s highest ideals — instead choosing to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to treat people as pawns.”
Pritzker blamed both Democrats and Republicans for lacking a comprehensive immigration policy, which he outlined in an October 2023 letter to President Joe Biden as a failure that “created an unprecedented strain on Illinois’ resources.”
“The state of Illinois chose a different path,” Pritzker said. “With people’s lives at stake — children, pregnant women, and the elderly who were sent to our state in the dead of night, dropped outside far from our designated intake and welcome centers, in freezing temperatures — and a federal government that was unwilling to address the national crisis in any meaningful way, we knew would could not simply ignore the suffering right in front of us.”
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi — a northwest suburban Democrat who is running a primary campaign for the Senate against Pritzker’s lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton — came to Pritzker’s defense with an outline of Illinois’ recent credit upgrades and a folksy celebration of home-state heroes.
“Illinois is the heart and soul of America, governor,” Krishnamoorthi said. “It was the home of amazing leaders: Lincoln, Reagan, Obama, Grant, even Superman, and yes, da pope,” he said, holding up a poster-size copy of a Chicago Sun-Times front page with Pope Leo XIV.
“There you go. Illinois has terrific jobs, people and pizza. Some may even say that God is on our side,” Krishnamoorthi said.
The governor has been in Washington since Monday, preparing for his testimony with an outside law firm and a small group of trusted staffers. Dana Remus, former White House counsel to President Joe Biden, was among those helping Pritzker prepare for the committee, with the billionaire governor paying for the services of Covington & Burling out of his own pocket.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Wednesday said she expected Pritzker to call for upholding the Constitution and for comprehensive immigration reform.
“I think he’ll stand up for the values of Illinois. That we are a state that is welcoming, that’s law-abiding. That is welcoming of people who want to be a part of our communities, and that we uphold law and order. But we also uphold the Constitution,” Duckworth said. “Yes, we need to get rid of violent criminals, but at the same time, we shouldn’t be ripping kids, American-born children, away from their moms.”
Developing, this story will be updated. Tina Sfondeles reporting from Washington, Mitchell Armentrout reporting from Chicago.
