‘Sanctuary state’ Illinois’ role in Trump’s deportation plan murky

[October 03, 2024]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square0 – Former President Donald Trump’s plan to deport criminal illegal immigrants could run into a roadblock in Illinois as Republicans doubt the state would be of much help because of its “sanctuary” status.

Trump running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, explained during the CBS vice presidential debate a bit of their plan on deportations. Tuesday, he said the border must be secured first.

“About a million of those people have committed some form of crime in addition to crossing the border illegally,” Vance said. “I think you start with deportations on those folks.”

A recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement report indicated there were more than 435,000 people who have crossed the border over several years with criminal convictions, The Center Square previously reported.

Illinois state Sen. Chapin Rose said regardless of who’s elected, there is an unknown number of criminal illegal immigrants in Illinois.

“But if ICE never knew they were there, which is the law in Illinois, then that person is going to walk right back out the jail door or the Department of Corrections door at the end of their sentence and right back into our local communities,” Rose said during a news conference this week. “And that’s the problem.”

State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Cherry Valley, said if there’s nothing to hide, the numbers of non-citizens with criminal records in Illinois should be revealed.

“Then we should be allowed to track those so that we as a state can decide what our best action should be,” Syverson said.

Republicans also advocate for ending Illinois’ law prohibiting state and local police from assisting federal immigration enforcement.

During Tuesday’s debate on CBS, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who’s Kamala Harris’ running mate, said the former president failed on immigration.

“Donald Trump had four years, he had four years to do this, and he promised you America how easy it would be. ‘I’ll build you a big beautiful wall and Mexico will pay for it.’ Less than 2% of that wall got built and Mexico didn’t pay a dime,” Walz said.

Trump has criticized the Biden-Harris administration for rescinding his executive orders that tightened up border security and for the Biden-Harris administration discontinuing wall construction and selling materials for “pennies on the dollar.” The former president also points to data showing border crossings spiking after President Joe Biden took office after Trump’s term. Border crossings have surpassed 12.5 million since Biden and Harris took office, The Center Square first reported.

The election is Nov. 5. Early voting is underway in Illinois.