* WTTW…
Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday he would form a commission to document what he called “countless acts of harassment and intimidation and brutality and abuse of power” during a series of increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement raids across Chicago and the suburbs. […]
“Donald Trump is counting on your silence,” Pritzker said. “We are counting on your courage.”
Pritzker signed an executive order forming the Illinois Accountability Commission and charged it with creating a “public record of abuses” committed by the president, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, border czar Tom Homan and Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino.
“We have a duty to ensure that the truth is preserved, so the public can know what they’re elected and appointed officials have done,” Pritzker said. “So the courts and the Congress can eventually hold people accountable. It is imperative that none of the impropriety, brutality and harassment perpetrated upon our people goes unnoticed. Every instance of abuse, of law breaking, or violent and violations of rights needs to be documented and archived.”
* ABC 7…
First is to create a public record “of the abuses;” capture the impact on families and communities; and last the group will recommend actions to “prevent further harm.”
* From the press release…
The Commission will determine how to safely and prudently collect testimony, hold hearings, and gather information from individuals, community members, subject matter experts, local officials, journalists, faith leaders, and organizations. These accounts will be used to shed more light on the misconduct of the Trump Administration’s federal agents and document a formal, public record that can be used to pursue justice and accountability. […]
The Commission will consist of up to nine members appointed by the Governor, including a Chair and Vice Chair. The IAC will issue a report with findings and recommendations to the Governor and make the report publicly available. The work of the IAC will be supported by the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR).
“The Illinois Department of Human Rights has a statutory obligation under the Illinois Human Rights Act — one of the most comprehensive human rights laws in the nation — to protect all Illinoisans from discrimination, abuse, and violations of their fundamental rights,” said IDHR Director Jim Bennett. “The actions we have witnessed by federal agents operating in Illinois represent a profound threat to the safety, dignity, and civil rights of our residents. This Commission will provide checks for transparent, lawful operations and ensure that the voices of impacted communities are heard, recorded, and honored. We will not allow fear to silence those who have been harmed, and we will not allow misuse of power to shield those who have caused harm.”
The full EO is here.
…Adding…Leader McCombie…
In response to the Governor’s latest Executive Order creating the Illinois Accountability Commission, Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie issued the following statement:
“Governor Pritzker’s so-called Accountability Commission is just another taxpayer-funded political stunt. He claims he wants immigration reform, but his own open-border policies and expanded Trust Act tell a different story.
“He talks about truth and accountability, yet under his watch, over 1,200 children have died in DCFS care and thousands more have been injured — where is that accountability?
“At this point, the Governor’s talking points are stale and predictable, the same tiring political theatrics to try and keep his name in the national spotlight. Illinoisans deserve a leader focused on results, not another headline or late-night soundbite.”
- Carpe GM - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 11:24 am:
Good. Needed. Godspeed to that group of commissioners. Judge Castillo and Patricia Brown Holmes are really smart choices.
- Jack in Chatham - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 11:40 am:
What we need is better enforcement of our tax and labor laws. Many of these immigrants do not have the paperwork to legally work in the country and many of the employers who hire them are not in tax compliance.
- H-W - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 11:49 am:
@ Jack
Yours is an argument to get rid of immigrants by other means. Why do you want to get rid of immigrants? How would that make Illinois’ economy better? I suggest it would not. Like so many of the contemporary Republican policies, getting rid of immigrants in Illinois is more likely to harm our economy, and diminish the small business sector.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 12:07 pm:
“What we need is better enforcement of our tax and labor laws.”
What we need are tax and labor laws that correspond with the reality of cross-border capital and labor flows.
What we’re gonna get is vacuous nativism and immigrant bashing, because that’s how you get republican primary votes.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 12:10 pm:
=What we need is better enforcement of our tax and labor laws.=
I am all for legal immigration and would prefer that occur, but I do get the issues that people face in that process as I have family on my inlaws side that are immigrants. It is a long and expensive process unless someone with wealth and connection can get you skipped to the front of the line.
Many of those being detained and deported are in the process though. I don’t know the exact number (and suspect that ICE does not know either) but many have been detained while they were checking in with the courts. That is beyond absurd. I wish others that have been here for decades, working hard and being good community members had started the process as some have not, but it is evident that even if they had ICE does not care. I mean when Joe Rogan doesn’t get it, you know this is crazy.
To your statement on enforcement…why haven’t they arrested execs from businesses like home depot and other companies where they have conducted raids and found people that were not legally permitted to work in the US?
I am going to take leap and guess that it is because they are wealthy. Just a guess though. Because it seems like if we were really about law and order those folks are blatantly breaking the law as well.
- Pundent - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 12:30 pm:
=To your statement on enforcement…why haven’t they arrested execs from businesses like home depot and other companies where they have conducted raids and found people that were not legally permitted to work in the US?=
Because they would be predominantly rich white men and that doesn’t fit the narrative.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 1:23 pm:
===“He talks about truth and accountability, yet under his watch, over 1,200 children have died in DCFS care and thousands more have been injured — where is that accountability?===
I believe DCFS calls it the “Child Death Review Team.”
- yinn - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 1:34 pm:
==”He talks about truth and accountability, yet under his watch, over 1,200 children have died in DCFS care and thousands more have been injured — where is that accountability?”==
Leader McCombie, are you saying that DCFS personnel acting unlawfully in an intentional, systematic way, harming brown children on purpose, and lying about how they go about their jobs each day? Because that would be the apples-to-apples comparison with current federal immigration enforcement.
Also, it’s the legislative branch that oversees the executive. What have you done lately to hold the governor accountable for DCFS failures besides try to make partisan hay out of it?
- Archpundit - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 2:00 pm:
=Many of these immigrants do not have the paperwork to legally work in the country and many of the employers who hire them are not in tax compliance.
The thing is many do have authorization and some of those being rounded up have lost that authorization just recently because the feds ended TPS for so many immigrants so quickly. Not only do some have authorization in other words, others often had it and very recently lost it.
- H-W - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 2:38 pm:
@ Archpundit
Excellent catch.
- low level - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 2:43 pm:
As usual, Leader McCombie is trying to distract from her party’s record of failure and enabling of a wanna be dictator. We won’t be fooled.
- Abe Gibron - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 3:02 pm:
Nice to see them finally commission a distinguished panel of experts to get tough on crime in Illinois.
- Flapdoodle - Thursday, Oct 23, 25 @ 3:37 pm:
Leader McCombie: ““At this point, the Governor’s talking points are stale and predictable, the same tiring political theatrics to try and keep his name in the national spotlight. Illinoisans deserve a leader focused on results, not another headline or late-night soundbite.”
The irony here is priceless. Illinoisans do “deserve a leader focused on results, not another headline or late-night soundbite.” But can Ms. McCombie pass her own test? No. Once again she offers nothing but the usual GOP knee-jerk criticism of any initiative by the Governor or any opposition to the current regime in Washington. It’s Ms. McCombie’s own talking points that are “stale and predictable” as she tries to make the ILGOP somehow seem relevant. But that won’t happen until Ms. McCombie and the ILGOP manage to extend their political imaginations beyond mere opposition to the Governor and slavish allegiance to their Great Leader.
Yes, Illinoisans surely do deserve more.