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GOP fights among itself over state’s new non-citizen police law

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Illinois

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller helped ignite a firestorm over the weekend of July 29th when she expressed her disgust on social media with Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Miller (no relation) claimed on Twitter that Pritzker had signed a bill late on a Friday afternoon “to allow illegal immigrants to become police officers, giving non-citizens the power to arrest citizens in our state.”

Miller continued by claiming: “No sane state would allow foreign nationals to arrest their citizens, this is madness!” Her more well-known Republican colleague Lauren Boebert amplified the issue the next day and Fox News picked up the ball and ran with it. The rest of the right-wing media soon followed and a typical feeding frenzy ensued.

Trouble is, Miller’s own husband, state Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland (also no relation), voted “Yes” on the House’s initial version of the bill, which would’ve allowed non-citizens to become police officers.

Oops.

House Bill 3751 cleared the House on a unanimous roll call on March 24th. It specifically struck out an existing state law which prohibited sheriffs and law enforcement from employing non-citizens as law enforcement officers. The bill then added language allowing those non-citizens who are “legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law,” and who received federal approval to “obtain, carry, or purchase or otherwise possess a firearm,” to become law enforcement officers.

The bill was supported by various groups, including the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, and passed 101-0. One of the bill’s chief co-sponsors was Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, a Donald Trump-supporting police officer.

After the bill arrived in the Senate, its sponsor added an amendment allowing people, “against whom immigration action has been deferred by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) process,” to also become police officers.

Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorne Woods, the former Senate Republican Leader, voted for that version, but all other Senate Republicans opposed the bill as amended, as did two Democrats, Sens. Patrick Joyce, D-Reddick, and Willie Preston, D-Chicago.

Most all House Republicans stood firm during their chamber’s motion to concur with the new Senate amendment, including House Republican Leader Tony McCombie. Not one member of McCombie’s leadership team voted against the motion, which passed 100-7. However seven of the eight members of the House’s self-declared “Freedom Caucus” voted against it, including Rep. Miller. The eighth member, Rep. David Friess, R-Red Bud, had an excused absence.

Pritzker eventually pointed out on Twitter that House members, “including those who are now complaining about it,” had voted for the bill before the Senate Republicans “started spreading lies.”

State Rep. Miller responded to the governor online by claiming his own vote against “legislation allowing non-citizens to arrest actual citizens,” paled in comparison to Pritzker’s “blatantly attacking the Consitional [sic] right of honest citizens to bear arms.”

But, again, state Rep. Miller did indeed vote to allow “non-citizens to arrest actual citizens.” His spouse, the congressperson, tweeted at Pritzker the same day that “Giving foreign nationals the power to arrest US citizens in Illinois is not ‘common sense.’” Ms. Miller should’ve maybe had a talk with her husband last spring.

As you might imagine, several House Republicans are eager for this particular news cycle to end. It’s enraging the base, and there’s some worry that it could lead to some Republican primary challenges.

But McCombie went on a southern Illinois radio station WJPF last week to defend her fellow Republicans who voted for the bill.

“Every single [House] Republican, all 40 of us, voted for this bill,” McCombie told host Tom Miller (also no relation). “And that is because what the media is saying is not accurate. You can’t have 40 Republicans voting for a bill that is going to have undocumented illegal immigrants become a police officer. That is not gonna happen.” She also rightly pointed out that the asylum-seeking migrants pouring into Illinois won’t qualify, either, because they’re not allowed to work.

McCombie blamed Democrats for creating an environment that is forcing people out of policing as a career. This bill, she said, could help alleviate that problem. And she stressed that only people who could be approved by the federal government to possess and carry a firearm would qualify.

“It is a conditional step to support law enforcement,” McCombie said. “It is not, it is not a license to give illegal immigrants, undocumented folks who are coming across our borders illegally, the ability to become law enforcement. Hard stop.”

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 9:29 am

Comments

What percentage of the payouts tied to CPD conduct came from cops who were US citizens? Oh, all of it?

Comment by Homebody Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 9:45 am
Why let facts slow down the outrage machine?

Comment by The Way I See It Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 9:45 am
In former times, the US government permitted foreign nationals to enlist in the US military. Some did so in order to earn the right to apply for US citizenship later, provided that they were honorably discharged.

The late actor, John Mahoney, was a British national, who served in the US Army before becoming an American citizen years later. He recalled that it was a good experience for him and that he was thoroughly Americanized and assimilated as a result. He even learned how to speak without his English accent and spoke as an American English for the remainder of his life.

Maybe the police legislation could prove to be a good thing for some applicants.

Comment by Gravitas Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 9:53 am
Stupid argument as none of the would be applicants will ever obtain a FOID card required for the jobs

Comment by Sue Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 10:02 am
Final House vote : 100-7. Thats all you need to know.

Comment by low level Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 10:13 am
“…state Rep. Miller did indeed vote to allow “non-citizens to arrest actual citizens.”
“But I didn’t mean it.”

Comment by Bruce( no not him) Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 10:22 am
Miller v. Miller for Congress. That should be fun.

In reality, a lot of people seem to forget that we Irish and Poles and Eastern Europeans, Italians and others were also undocumented (hence not formally legalized) immigrants. Yet once the Italians and Poles (again, not legalized immigrants) came to America, our Anglo (WASP) leaders allowed the Irish immigrants (and their birthright children) to police and monitor other immigrants in their cities.

History is always awkward when it ties our own ancestry to the immediate circumstances of others. For that reason, many people prefer to ignore, forget or deny the past.

Comment by H-W Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 10:23 am
===a lot of people seem to forget that we Irish and Poles and Eastern Europeans, Italians and others were also undocumented ===

Lots of Europeans who currently live in the Greater Chicagoland Area have overstayed their visas. It’s one reason why the hatred angle doesn’t work so well there.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 10:29 am
= his own vote against “legislation allowing non-citizens to arrest actual citizens,” paled in comparison to Pritzker’s “blatantly attacking the Consitional [sic] right of honest citizens to bear arms.”=

Did Miller (not related) get hit on the ol’ noggin again?

=Stupid argument as none of the would be applicants will ever obtain a FOID card required for the jobs=

Tell that to the ones who are already cops.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 11:44 am
@ Rich

=== overstayed their visas ===

My Polish/Prussian grandfather overstayed his welcome by 22 years or so after coming to Chicago (via Ellis Island). Then, with the last name Wendt and the rise of totalitarianism in Europe, he naturalized (a common thing for Germanic descendants in the 1930s).

My grandmother parents (Irish) were actually turned away at Ellis. The boat went to Canada and departed the immigrants about. Her parents later walked to America, from Canada and settled in the NYC region.

These stories we hear today are so much the stories we are hearing today. And yet they scare some who have the exact same story of hope.

Comment by H-W Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 11:57 am
I do not support this. You should have to be a citizen to be a law enforcement officer. But obviously a lot of Republicans voted for it. So yes, it can still be an issue but not for the Republicans who voted for it nor for the Ill GOP as whole.

Comment by unafraid Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 12:19 pm
=== I do not support this===

How about non citizens in the armed forces?

Let’s start with this first…

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 12:28 pm
Who is Mary Miller ?Does she actually exist ? I have a Congresswoman in my district with that name. I’ve never seen her, heard from her, and to my knowledge she has never produced a single piece of legislation signed into law. I’m not sure how she distinguishes herself from a potted plant. Then I realized potted plants don’t say stupid things, draw a huge salary for doing nothing, and have a hefty farm subsidy for her farm. Apologies to potted plants everywhere

Comment by Stormsw7706 Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 12:39 pm
==You should have to be a citizen==

Why. If someone is here lawfully why does it matter?

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 1:15 pm
Sue -

Unless things have changed in the last few years, law enforcement officers are NOT statutorily required to have a FOID card.

Comment by Anyone Remember Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 1:44 pm
@- Demoralized - Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 1:15 pm:

==You should have to be a citizen==

===Why. If someone is here lawfully why does it matter?===

It would depend on where they came from. Usually if they are not a citizen of the United States, they are still a citizen of a different country. If a bad incident occurs (example George Floyd) the non-citizen cops could flee to their home country and escape justice. Some of these countries will NOT extradite their own citizens.
I think an important question we should be asking is why can’t we find enough U.S. citizens to fill these positions?

Comment by DuPage Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 2:43 pm
Are the non-citizen police officers taking any jobs away from citizen police officers? That answer is NO. They can not find enough American citizens who want to be police officers.

Comment by Appears Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 3:05 pm
You have to wonder if Mary and Chris Miller (no relation) conspired to be on opposite sides of this bill just so the story would stay in the news cycle that bit longer. That level of House of Cards seems a bit beyond them, but why else make a big deal about such a formerly nonpartisan thing?

Comment by chambana Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 11:24 pm