Stephen Miller said that Governor J.B. Pritzker could be arrested for engaging in a “criminal conspiracy.”
When asked by Fox host Will Cain on Friday under what authority a governor could potentially be arrested, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff said that the Department of Justice “has made clear that if officials cross that line into obstruction, into criminal conspiracy against the United States or against ICE officers, then they will face justice.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and Governor Pritzker’s office for comment.
Miller’s statement comes after President Donald Trump claimed that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Pritzker should be “in jail for failing to protect ICE officers.”
On Oct. 23, the Illinois governor signed an executive order establishing the “Illinois Accountability Commission,” which will track “abuses” and hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “accountable” following the Department of Homeland Security’s launch of “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
“If you engage in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws or to unlawfully order your own police officers or your own officials to try to interfere with ICE officers or even to arrest ICE officers, you’re engaged in criminal activity,” Miller said on Friday, noting that he is addressing “any state” and “local” official, not just Pritzker.
Since the September launch of the operation in Chicago, ICE officers have fatally shot a man who resisted arrest, and protests have erupted across the sanctuary city.
U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis issued a temporary restraining order barring federal agents from arresting or threatening to arrest journalists without probable cause during a Chicago-area protest and later required any federal agents working under Operation Midway Blitz to wear body cameras after the initial order was violated.
President Trump has wanted to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, arguing in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court that “federal agents’ efforts are met with prolonged, coordinated, violent resistance that threatens their lives and safety and systematically interferes with their ability to enforce federal law,” after court rulings blocked him from doing so.
Miller has been a loyal ally to the president, even defending the president’s bulldozing of the East Wing to build a ballroom, describing it as the president celebrating “beauty again and beautification again.”
Pritzker has previously noted that Miller “has the power of the presidency because the president isn’t reining him in” and criticized him, saying that he will be held accountable for “clearly ordering people to break the law,” which prompted Miller to call the 60-year-old governor a “moron” who “hates America.”
As Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, Miller has been described as an “architect” of the president’s immigration policy.
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