(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by expanding the state’s migrant sanctuary policies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says.
Pritzker signed House Bill 1312 Tuesday in Chicago.
“Together, we’re sending a message to [President] Donald Trump, to [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem, to [commander] Gregory Bovino and anyone else seeking to terrorize our people,” Pritzker said. “Your divisiveness and your brutality are not welcome here.”
The measure allows for lawsuits against law enforcement and requires hospitals, universities and daycares to have policies prohibiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
In a social media post, DHS said the U.S. Constitution makes federal law the “Law of the Land.”
“By signing this law, @GovPritzker violated the Supremacy Clause,” DHSgov said on X. “We hope the headlines and social media likes are worth it.”
During Tuesday’s bill signing ceremony in Chicago, state Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, asked when Republicans will “speak up” against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
“When they come after you?” Aquino said. “When masked, unidentified federal agents go to your small town, go to your churches, go to your schools, your daycare centers? Is that when? Will it be when it’s too late? I hope not.”
State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, responded.
“The government is going after illegal aliens, people that broke the law,” Cabello told The Center Square. “Many of them are the worst of the worst.”
DHS on Tuesday announced a new “Worst of the Worst” website at wow.dhs.gov.
“The webpage allows visitors to search through some of the hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens who have been arrested across all 50 states, with criminal histories that include homicide, assault, rape, drug trafficking, child molestation, cruelty toward a child, battery, and armed robbery, among other crimes,” the agency said.
Cabello said increased immigration enforcement on the streets that Democrats oppose wouldn’t be necessary if Illinois would just cooperate.
“All the governor had to do is say, ‘what do you need us to do to help?’ And none of this would have happened,” Cabello said. “None of it would have happened. They would have cooperated fully with the state and went after the people. If there was actual help, this wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t have had the things going on in the streets like they were.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is asking the state to cooperate with federal immigration officials, saying more than 4,000 illegal aliens are in state and local custody that need to be turned over.
“Illinois’ failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 1,768 criminal illegal aliens since January 20,” DHS said in a news release Tuesday. “The crimes of these aliens include 5 homicides, 141 assaults, 23 burglaries, 4 robberies, 24 dangerous drugs offenses, 15 weapons offenses, and 10 sexual predatory offenses.”
