FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on Trump administration officials and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership to testify before a commission he created targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations conducted in the state.
Pritzker sent a letter to White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, border czar Tom Homan, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE director Todd Lyons, former DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, and Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott among others.
“I established the Illinois Accountability Commission to preserve the truth and document how Donald Trump and his accomplices violated the rights of Illinoisans and terrorized our communities during Operation Midway Blitz,” Pritzker told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“These officials should answer directly to the people of Illinois for the chaos and violence they unleashed,” Pritzker added. “Regardless of whether these officials are still in their roles or not, the people of Illinois demand accountability from them all.”
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The letter, obtained by Fox News Digital and signed by former Clinton-appointed Judge Rubén Castillo for U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and chairman of the Illinois Accountability Commission, calls on recipients to testify at public hearings on April 27 or April 28.
The White House blasted Pritzker, telling Fox News Digital that the commission is nothing more than a “political stunt” for the Illinois governor to try to boost his name for a potential presidential run.
“JB Pritzker is a total slob who would rather dream up political stunts for his doomed-to-fail Presidential campaign than actually help Illinois residents,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital.
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“If this slob spent half as much time addressing crime and public safety concerns in Chicago as he did pandering to radical leftists, Chicagoans would be much safer,” Jackson added. “The Trump Administration, and our heroic ICE officers, will unapologetically remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American streets whether Pritzker likes it or not.”
The letter specifies events which the commission deems inappropriate show of force from federal agents, and says one of the goals of the commission is to “ensure meaningful accountability.”
“Reports from residents, legal advocates, journalists, and elected officials describe communities across Illinois as being subject to aggressive federal enforcement tactics during Operation Midway Blitz,” the letter reads. “These reports include the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas-González in Franklin Park, the shooting of Marimar Martinez, the repeated deployment of tear gas in residential neighborhoods, the detention of U.S. citizens, and large-scale military-style raids in peaceful civilian communities.”
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DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis responded to Fox News Digital’s inquiry slamming Pritzker for “[refusing] to do his job” and noted the recent killing of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student who was murdered by an illegal migrant in Chicago last month.
“Governor Pritzker continues to refuse to do his job to protect his citizens from illegal alien crime and instead chooses to smear our law enforcement,” Bis said. “Where is his investigation into his own policies that allowed Sheridan Gorman’s killer to be released from jail to go on and commit her heinous murder?”
McLaughlin was also quick to punch back at what she described as the “wannabe Ministry of Truth.”
“I’ll appear before JB Pritzker’s wannabe Ministry of Truth the day he ends Illinois’ sanctuary policies — the very policies that protected Sheridan Gorman’s killer and those criminal illegal aliens responsible for the deaths of Katie Abraham, Chloe Polzin and too many other American victims,” McLaughlin told Fox News Digital.
In response to the lack of interest by current and former Trump administration officials to attend the hearings, a Pritzker spokesperson said former officials specifically “are too scared” to attend.
“It’s unfortunate that former Trump officials with more free time on their hands are too scared to face the American people and answer questions,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “If they spent so much time touting the operation’s ‘achievements,’ then they should have no problem defending it.”
Noem was removed as DHS secretary in March and tasked to lead Trump’s new special envoy for the “Shield of the Americas.” Her departure was reportedly the result of a controversial $220 million ad campaign and the death of two American citizens who were killed by DHS agents during ICE operations.
Former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed by the Senate following Noem’s departure and was sworn in as DHS secretary on March 24.