Gov. Pritzker Threatens to Prosecute ICE Agents Once Dems Get in Power: ‘Tables Will Turn Some Day!’

SCHUTZ: “I just want to get your reaction first to some of the most recent incidents we’ve seen. There’s video of a parent teenager in Hoffman Estates being taken out of her car. Obviously the WGN employee in Lincoln Square being arrested and detained. No charges that we know of yet. Videos of ICE agents on the North Side clipping other vehicles. Do you know anything about these incidents and your general reaction to just the last few days?”
PRITZKER: “Well, it’s very disturbing what’s happening. They’re overstepping the boundaries of their authority, ICE and CBP. I also would say that I think you should pay close attention to the fact that they’re getting filmed in all of these circumstances, which is very helpful because it helps us to go to court and get some limitations. You saw that we won in court, not just the TRO, but also about the behavior and actions and whether ICE must identify themselves in these circumstances and they must. So we’re winning slowly but surely as the evidence is coming in, but I have to say it is abominable, the unconstitutional actions that are taking place. And here’s the most tragic part. Usually, the inspectors general of the United States, the ones who work in the departments like the Department of Homeland Security, when something goes wrong, when an agent does something wrong, typically they investigate and they’ll hold somebody responsible. I don’t trust at all that the Trump Administration is going to hold any of these people responsible. We will. We’re going to call for accountability and indeed, you know, the tables will turn someday. These people should recognize that maybe they’re not going to get prosecuted today, although we’re looking at doing that, but they may get prosecuted after the Trump Administration for the things that they did because the statute of limitations won’t have run.”
SCHUTZ: “When you say we’re looking at some kind of prosecution, are you talking about the attorney general? Are you talking about state police? So, what avenues or jurisdictions would the state have to go after some of these federal agents that you might think are operating unconstitutionally?”
PRITZKER: “Well, I think it’s pretty obvious some of it really is unconstitutional, but we’re just talking to the state’s attorneys and to the attorney general of the state of Illinois about how they can go at this because what we really want is to make sure that they follow the law. You know, we had the immigration services, ICE and CBP, doing their jobs before the Trump Administration, but they were doing it within the law. Now they’re acting like a bunch of thugs and taking away people’s free speech rights. They’re taking away people’s rights, you know, by not identifying themselves. They’re coming in with masks on. They’re coming in with unidentified vehicles. These are all things that need to be taken up, again, by an inspector general or somebody investigating at the federal level because they have immunity at the state level, but we’re looking at how we might be able to hold them responsible despite the fact of federal immunity.”