N.Y., Ill. Govs Dare ICE to Arrest Them Over Illegals

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, said Thursday that they are willing to be arrested for impeding Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in their states.

Pritzker, Hochul, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz testified in a marathon hearing in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding their states' policies that critics say create havens for illegal aliens and thwart federal immigration enforcement.

Hochul and Pritzker directed their statements to Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's point man for mass deportations and border security. Trump on Monday suggested that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, should be arrested amid the rioting in Los Angeles that followed immigration enforcement actions last week.

Newsom had challenged Homan to arrest him after Homan suggested anyone who interferes with the administration's enforcement efforts, including politicians, should be prosecuted.

"If Tom Homan comes to Albany to arrest me, I'll say go for it," Hochul said. "You can't intimidate a governor. What is this country coming to when people try to threaten us on social media and cable news and try to stop us from doing our jobs?

"We're here on the front lines every day fighting to defend our rights, our values, and the public safety of our residents. Anything threatening our responsibility is an assault on our democracy. Nothing short of that."

Pritzker, who like Newsom is contemplating a presidential bid in 2028, echoed Hochul's sentiments.

"I have the highest duty to protect the people of my state, and indeed, if Tom Homan were to come to try to arrest us, me, rather, I can say first of all that he can try," Pritzker said.

"I can also tell you that I will stand in the way of Tom Homan going after people who don't deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don't deserve to be threatened, terrorized. I would rather he came and arrested me than do that to the people of my state."

Illinois is the subject of two lawsuits filed by the Department of Justice. One targets a state law and Cook County ordinance that prohibits local officials from participating in immigration enforcement, as well as Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance, which bars police from arresting people based on immigration status and limits what information they can share about immigrants with federal authorities.

The other challenges Illinois' Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act, which regulate employers' use of the federal E-Verify program, imposing privacy protections for workers who are not U.S. citizens.

DOJ has also filed two lawsuits against New York. One, filed Thursday, challenges the state's Protect Our Courts Act, which blocks immigration officials from arresting people at or near New York courthouses.

The other, filed in April, is challenging New York's Green Light Law, which prohibits the state's sheriff's offices and other agencies from sharing motor vehicle data with federal authorities for purposes of immigration enforcement.

Reps. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., blamed Hochul for the 2024 murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student whose convicted killer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was arrested in New York on child endangerment charges but quickly freed before traveling to Georgia.

"This little girl would be alive today if you weren't such a treasonous governor, supporting sanctuary laws in the state of New York," Greene told Hochul while displaying a photo of Riley.