Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stood alongside grieving Angel Families in Springfield, Illinois, to demand an end to the state’s sanctuary policies. Noem called out Governor JB Pritzker directly, accusing him of protecting criminal illegal aliens at the expense of law-abiding citizens and families who have lost loved ones.
Noem criticized Illinois’s sanctuary laws, which block local jails from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), allowing dangerous individuals to remain in communities. “People who support sanctuary policies talk about love and compassion. Well, where is the compassion for families that stand behind me?” Noem asked. She added that Pritzker has shielded illegal alien criminals for political gain, calling it “violence and criminality against his citizens.”
Angel Families, who have lost loved ones to crimes committed by illegal aliens, joined Noem in a powerful public plea. Brian McCann recounted how his brother Denny was killed by Saul Chavez, an illegal alien with a prior felony who dragged Denny nearly 300 feet in a 2011 drunk-driving crash. Just months after that death, Cook County formalized its sanctuary policy, which Pritzker later expanded statewide.
Jim Walden, whose son Marine Lance Corporal James Ray Walden III was killed in 2017, recounted how the illegal alien responsible had five prior arrests, a domestic violence conviction, and was known by Maryland officials to be in the country illegally for years. “Jimmie would have been 30 years old yesterday,” Walden said through tears, noting the man responsible has since been charged with illegal reentry for the third time.
The press conference also featured Kathy Zander and Nancy Pletania, mothers whose sons died from fentanyl poisoning linked to drug trafficking by illegal aliens. Their stories added to the growing call for an end to sanctuary protections that, they argued, fuel crime and shield repeat offenders.
Illinois is among the most aggressive sanctuary states in the country, refusing to hold criminal aliens for ICE unless presented with a judicial warrant, which federal law does not require. Critics say the policy creates a revolving door for criminal aliens, preventing deportation even after serious convictions.
