On a recent episode of CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker showed again why sanctuary policies are about as popular as paying taxes or getting a root canal.
Pritzker accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of indiscriminately “picking up people who are brown and black” and detaining elderly individuals during the agency’s “Operation Midway Blitz” operation in Chicago. “They need to get the heck out,” the governor proclaimed of the federal government’s immigration enforcement arm.
It was pure political theater from someone widely believed to have ambitions for higher office. Pritzker’s sensational accusations, however, ignore the giant elephant in the room. Chicago’s sanctuary policies, which bar local police from cooperating with ICE on detainers for illegal aliens charged with crimes, are the root cause of these operations. This lack of coordination forces federal agents into high-risk, at-large arrests in communities, exposing officers and community members alike to unnecessary risk that could be avoided by direct transfers from state to federal custody.
Operation Midway Blitz has apprehended over 800 individuals, including gang members, murderers, and rapists—criminals who flocked to Chicago knowing sanctuary policies would shield them. Pritzker’s narrative casts ICE as the aggressor, but the obstruction from his administration and Chicago city government is the true source of the disorder.
Pritzker further inflamed tensions by accusing federal agents of “making it a war zone” in Chicago, conjuring images of militarized oppression. However, anyone familiar with Chicago knows it has resembled a war zone since well before ICE arrived. The city has earned the nickname “Chiraq” for its entrenched violence, where shootings and homicides have long plagued neighborhoods.
Mayor Brandon Johnson would respond that through the first half of 2025, Chicago recorded 188 homicides and 665 shootings—an alleged 32 percent and 39 percent drop from 2024. However, a recent investigation into police record-keeping in Washington, D.C. found that police leadership allegedly manipulated crime statistics to make their jurisdiction appear safer than it really is. This kind of statistical legerdemain casts significant doubt on the accuracy of crime data in other large cities that show double-digit reductions in crime when residents say their neighborhoods are as dangerous as ever.
Pritzker’s claim that residents were “booing” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and federal agents further distorts public opinion. While protests have occurred, Noem has noted many locals applauded the arrests of dangerous criminals. Moreover, many of the protesters are not spontaneous community voices. They are paid agitators, tied to groups like Antifa, reportedly funded by shadowy, radical left interests aiming to disrupt enforcement and sow division.
These organized activists, often bussed in and equipped with professionally printed signs, inflate the appearance of grassroots opposition, drowning out residents who support removing criminal elements. The agenda-driven, anti-borders establishment media is happy to do its part to frame these protests to the nation as legitimate and organic. This orchestrated dissent, backed by opaque funding, allows Pritzker and Johnson to spin a narrative of mass opposition to ICE, masking the broader community dissatisfaction with local leadership that has guided the city to its current decrepit condition.
This frustration is evident in city council hearings, where residents regularly berate Johnson for diverting over $638 million since 2022 to support illegal aliens while neglecting citizens’ needs, such as public safety and housing. Chicagoans have ripped Johnson for harboring illegals and prioritizing noncitizens amid a billion-dollar budget deficit. They have also demanded audits and an America First approach. Johnson’s executive orders blocking local cooperation with federal efforts have deepened this anger, yet Pritzker highlights the protests while ignoring these grassroots criticisms.
In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and two attempts on President Trump’s life, Pritzker and Johnson have been intentionally turning up their rhetoric to create a hostile atmosphere for ICE to operate. After years of smearing Trump as a fascist dictator and calling ICE an occupying force, it should be no surprise that leftist radicals are ramming cars into ICE vehicles, shooting at ICE agents with rifles and doxxing the families of ICE agents.
If Trump is purportedly guilty of using dangerously irresponsible language, when will Pritzker and Johnson be held accountable for theirs? If Pritzker wants to actually do some good, he should pick up the phone and apologize to Joe Abraham, whose daughter Katie was killed this year after a drunk-driving illegal alien from Guatemala hit her vehicle in Pritzker’s sanctuary utopia.
Under Pritzker and Johnson, Chicago has spiraled into chaos. Sanctuary policies attract criminals, drain funds, and erode trust, while violence persists despite alleged declines in crime. Their response? Hyper-partisan attacks on Trump for enforcing immigration laws—a tough, often polarizing task that removes threats and restores order.
Pritzker offers no reforms or better ideas, only rhetoric that endangers agents and residents. Chicago deserves leadership that prioritizes its citizens, not excuses that perpetuate failure. Federal action, however imperfect, confronts the problems Pritzker and Johnson refuse to face.
Brian Lonergan is director of strategic communications and content for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C.
The post Lonergan: Pritzker Blames ICE While Chicago Sanctuary Policies Fuel Chaos appeared first on Breitbart.
