This little feud between blue states and ICE has officially gotten out of hand.
This started with DHS Secretary Noem being denied entry into a local law enforcement building for a bathroom break.
That was annoying, but it got very serious when the Chief of Patrol told local police to stand down when ICE agents were under attack and surrounded by hostiles.
Due to the state of Illinois as a sanctuary state, all state and local law enforcement are prohibited from helping federal immigration authorities carry out their duties.
The Illinois TRUST Act, signed in 2017 by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, and the Illinois Way Forward Act, signed in 2021 by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, limit what sheriffs can and cannot do when it comes to their involvement with federal authorities.
Now, I have seen plenty of interviews where local law enforcement speaks out against these laws, but their hands are tied if they want to keep their jobs, so they begrudgingly play along.
This would not include helping officers if they are under duress, which is a situation that occurred this weekend, and it surely does not prohibit local law enforcement from allowing the Secretary of DHS to use the bathroom in a state or city building.
Noem and her team were at the Village of Broadview, which is just outside of Chicago, when they were told they could not use the facilities.
Noem explained, “My team and I were just blocked from accessing the Village of Broadview Municipal Building in Illinois. We were stopping for a quick bathroom break.
“This is a public building. The Village of Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year.”
This is petty, but that is how business is being conducted right now. What happened next was not petty; in fact, it was quite dangerous and put lives at risk.
I have been around law enforcement my entire life, and the one consistent thing is that when another officer is in trouble, regardless of the agency or force, everyone comes running to help. Heck, I have even been out with my brother, a retired officer, who has offered to help when an officer was in duress.
A situation took place in Broadview this weekend where agents were surrounded by violent protesters, ramming their cars and surrounding them, having them completely boxed in, and local officers were reportedly told they could not help.
Officers were relaying information in real time, but they were told to “stay put” several blocks away from where the attack was taking place, then they were told, “Per the chief of patrol: Clear everybody out, we’re not responding over there.”
I simply cannot imagine what would morally allow a fellow police officer to give that order, not to mention how the officers on scene felt about being told to abandon their fellow boys in blue. This is horrifying, and it is only going to embolden protesters in Illinois to get more aggressive. Pritzker claims Trump is turning Chicago into a war zone, but it is orders like this that will literally result in loss of life at some point, and that blood will be on his hands.
