I have to say, at times, it seems like the entire country is working against ICE right now.
To that point, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is suggesting that he will have ICE agents arrested who are executing federal orders in his state.
To do so would go directly against the word of the Chicago chief of police, who said that local law enforcement officials do not possess the authority to arrest federal agents.
Nearly two weeks ago, ICE agents were boxed in by vehicles in a suburb of Chicago and were forced to fire their weapons defensively when they were rammed, with at least one “protester” showing a weapon.
According to reports, the chief of patrol ordered officers to stand down and to not help federal agents.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling addressed the incident, saying that the call to stand down never happened, even though dispatch transcripts say otherwise. However, Snelling stated that his officers “cannot and will not” arrest federal agents.
He later discussed the fight for federal agents to defend themselves, adding, “If you box them in with vehicles, it is reasonable for them to believe that they are being ambushed and that this could end in a deadly situation and it’s reasonable for them to use force based on those conditions. Do not box in any law enforcement officer. You are breaking the law when you’re doing that and you’re putting yourself in danger.”
One Democrat alderman came forward to support President Donald Trump on this issue, but now Chicago Alderman Timmy Knudsen is ramping up the attacks against federal agents.
He claimed, “Largely, I would say, right now, the worst gang in Chicago is called ICE, and it’s funded by the federal government. We’re going to show up in masses this weekend downtown and say that we don’t believe in authoritarianism.”
Knudsen later added, “I think a big piece of this is showing that, if this can happen in Chicago, if ICE can use brutal force in our city in the central of the country, it can happen anywhere. And we need to show, coast to coast, that they could come to your home next.”
Keep in mind, Chicago is home to such nefarious gangs as the Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples, Latin Kings, Crips, Bloods, and Vice Lords, not to mention the Mexican cartel, which supplies drugs to the region. His opposition to federal agents is emblematic of what this alderman thinks of ICE for enforcing our immigration laws.
That is not the worst of it, however, as Pritzker is now suggesting that he will have federal agents arrested in his state. He stated, “We don’t know that anybody would be held accountable at the federal level. So we’re looking at all of the options at the local level with county state’s attorneys, with attorneys general to go after people when they’re breaking Illinois law, when they’re breaking local law.”
He continued, “And, and we think that they have, you know, when they’re driving through an area, someone’s yelling at them and they decide to simply throw a tear gas canister out of the car as they’re driving through at someone who’s on the side of the road, that, it seems to me, is I know is a violation of Illinois law.”
Pritzker concluded, “And so the question is, can we hold the officers, the agents responsible when they do something like that? If it were a police officer, we could, if it was, you know, you or me or just an average person throwing a, you know, a tear gas canister out the side of a window at people, we could hold them responsible. So it seems like they ought to be held responsible for breaking local and state laws.”
The only time state authorities can arrest federal officials is if they are operating outside the scope of their duties or if they commit a crime over which state jurisdictions prevail, which is not the case here. These agents are enforcing federal immigration laws, and when they are on the streets, Pritzker is hanging them out to dry, even when they are attacked by protesters. Call me crazy, but it sure sounds like Democrats want to start a war between local and federal law enforcement. This, my friends, is getting out of hand rather quickly.
