Illinois governor calls on Trump officials to halt ICE raids for Halloween | Illinois
JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, urged the Trump administration to suspend his state’s immigration crackdown from Friday to Sunday, to allow children to “spend Halloween weekend without fear.”
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Pritzker said federal agents are “ignoring their duty to protect the public and uphold the Constitution” by carrying out raids and arrests in accordance with the US president’s mass deportation agenda. The Democrat said such raids had “endangered the lives of innocent community members and traumatized children.”
Pritzker’s letter, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times and Politico, came as a federal appeals court blocked an order that would have required a top Border Patrol official to give daily briefings to a judge about immigration operations in Chicago.
In his appeal, Pritzker noted that Border Patrol agents allegedly used tear gas to disrupt a Halloween parade last weekend. “If this had occurred as reported, it would have been in direct violation of your administration’s statements and directives,” Pritzker said.
The governor wrote: “Illinois families deserve to spend Halloween weekend without fear. No child should be forced to inhale tear gas or other chemical agents while trick-or-treating in their own neighborhood.”
He added: “Children in Illinois should not be robbed of their innocence. Let them enjoy a centuries-old American tradition safely and peacefully. Please let kids be kids on a holiday, without intimidation or fear.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ABC News reported that agents from the Border Patrol, which is playing an increasingly prominent role in Trump’s immigration crackdown, converged on a children’s Halloween parade last Saturday in Irving Park, northwest of Chicago. ABC said it viewed video footage that “showed officers deploying tear gas and attacking and arresting several people, including U.S. citizens, in front of homes adorned with Halloween decorations.”
The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday blocked an order from U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis that ordered Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, to appear daily in federal court to report on the crackdown and arrests.
At a hearing Tuesday, Ellis told Bovino, “Children dressed in Halloween costumes going to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer.”
She added: “They just don’t do it. And you can’t use riot weapons on them.”
Over the past two months, Border Patrol agents have made more arrests in Chicago than ICE agents, CBS News reported Wednesday.
The government is far from achieving its immigration objectives. Earlier this year, Stephen Miller – Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff – set ICE a goal of arresting 3,000 people every day. But by the end of September, the agency was arresting an average of 1,178 people per day, NBC reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
