Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) is now making it explicitly clear to President Donald Trump that his federal agents will not be allowed in the Prairie State to arrest Democratic elected officials.
Several Democratic state lawmakers from Texas are currently in Illinois, as they continue to deny Republicans the ability to pass new redistricting maps that heavily favor the GOP. Trump recently entertained the idea of having the FBI arrest them and bring them back to the Lone Star State. But according to a Wednesday report in the Hill, Pritzker is now instructing Illinois law enforcement agencies to not assist federal authorities.
“Our state troopers protect everybody in Illinois and anybody who’s here in Illinois,” Pritzker said during an appearance on the “News Not Noise” podcast.
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“And so, whether it’s federal agents coming to Illinois or state rangers from Texas, if you haven’t broken federal law, you’re basically unwelcome and there’s no way that our state legislators here — the Texas state legislators — can be arrested,” he continued.
Pritzker is right in that a president can’t instruct federal law enforcement agents to make arrests for state-level crimes — particularly to execute the civil warrants signed for the Texas Democratic lawmakers who are not in the state. The Texas Tribune reported that the warrants only apply within Texas borders and lawmakers will not face civil or criminal charges for them, making them effectively symbolic. And as Pritzker mentioned, federal officials can only conduct arrests for federal crimes, meaning the FBI doesn’t have the legal authority to arrest Texas Democrats in Illinois on behalf of Texas Republicans.
“Look, we follow the law and the law is what I just laid it out to be,” Pritzker said during his Wednesday interview. “But, as you know, Donald Trump does not follow the law. Indeed, he’s a convicted felon.”
“And in Texas, they are also not following the law,” he added. “They are thwarting the Constitution with the Voting Rights Act and making threats that they can’t carry out.”
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Click here to read the Hill’s full report.