CHICAGO – Governor Rauner signed a controversial bill into law Monday, and soon after, his office sent out a press release explaining his reasoning – a position in direct opposition to the Trump Administration.
The following is verbatim from the governor's office:
Gov. Bruce Rauner today signed Senate Bill 31 – the TRUST Act – which will continue Illinois’ history of welcoming immigrants and help law enforcement focus on stopping violent crime and protecting Illinois residents.
“Illinois has been welcoming of immigrants for a long time, and this bill will continue that tradition,” Gov. Rauner said. “It also makes clear that stopping violent crime will be law enforcement’s mission rather than working on federal prerogatives that a federal court has found illegal.”
The Northern District of Illinois federal court has found that immigration detainer orders from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are illegal. SB 31 reinforces that court ruling. Furthermore, under the TRUST Act, law enforcement shall not stop, arrest, search, detain or continue to detain a person solely due to immigration status. Instead, detainment will require a warrant issued by a judge. The new law will improve connectivity between immigrants and law enforcement, making Illinois safer for all residents.
“It breaks my heart to see the senseless violence going on in our streets, especially when that violence is inflicted on innocent children,” Gov. Rauner said. “We need to prioritize our resources for the prevention of violent crime.”
The TRUST Act makes clear that Illinois will be a good partner with the federal government, and law enforcement will continue communicating with federal immigration and law enforcement officials.
“The Illinois TRUST Act brings us a step forward in the right direction to ensure that all Illinois residents are treated equally and with human dignity by the federal government,” said state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero), who was a chief co-sponsor of the bill.
“Immigrants in our community should not have to feel unsafe when they go to work or take their children to school,” said state Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch (D-Hillside), who was the primary sponsor of the bill in the House. “This legislation will ensure that proper legal procedures are being followed and provide peace of mind to members of our community.”
SB 31 was the result of compromise and negotiations. It is supported by law enforcement, including the Illinois State Police, and immigration groups.
“The TRUST Act does not prohibit state and local law enforcement from working with federal law enforcement, and it does nothing to change law enforcement's ability to arrest and detain individuals who commit criminal acts and hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Illinois State Police Director Leo P. Schmitz said. “No person should fear the police, and everyone in Illinois should feel welcome and safe to contact the police for safety.”
This is all very strange to me.
-There seems to be an ambiguation of legal immigrant and illegal immigrant in the language of the Governor. I can’t help but feel like it’s purposeful.
-If ICE’s detainer orders are indeed illegal as found in a court, then why do we need a[nother] law to complicate something that’s already been handled?
-I don’t know what kind of correlation there is between illegal immigration and violent crime. If it’s high, wouldn’t it be really effective to curb violent crime by cracking down on illegal immigration? The Governor’s statement assumes that there is *NO* correlation but they are not providing any data/statistics.
I think many of Trump’s initiatives are ridiculous. Over-reactions to them are just as ridiculous.
Oh, and I wholeheartedly disagree with ISP Director Leo P Schmitz’s statement, “No person should fear the police.”
That’s not true. Criminals should fear the police. If they don’t, that’s because the police are ineffective. Law abiding persons should not fear the police, but illegal immigrants are not law abiding persons.
As someone who has been harassed by police plenty in my life (even as a white person), I am very disgusted by Schmitz’s statement. If you don’t want people fearing the police, then have the police do their actual job of law enforcement instead of intimidating people they don’t like. They have a culture *right now* that disagrees with that statement, and it’s a baloney sentence to let illegals off the hook. Schmitz is a hypocrite.
The trust act doesn’t hide immigrants, it hides illegal aliens! Illegal aliens is NOT equal to immigrant. To be an immigrant you must follow the lawful process, not bypass immigration laws.
No law breaker feels safe after they violate the law… why should those who violated our immigration laws feel safe??? Above the law is not who we are or the American way…. we expect and demand RULE OF LAW!!!!
They could at least provide mustard and sliced bread with that baloney they are trying to force feed us. Rauner the unemployed want to thank you for allowing illegal aliens to poach jobs from Illinois unemployed citizens… back stabber.
Governor,
Go back to your billions and leave the United States alone.
You resemble most John Calhoun and Jefferson Davis, Secession, anyone? You have lost the Republican Party, put it in its grave for the next, oh, half century.
There were two issues here and you tried to finesse both of them,
Defining immigrants is a Federal function. Aliens, as well. You could not tell the difference?
Illinois has two problems. Violence and Unemployment. The Senate Bill 31 solves neither, exacerbates both.
No citizen that I know of does not want to see full employment, profitable buisness operations and the elimination of unnecessary welfare. Will the new law help Republicans get elected and solve these problems?
Yes, immigration in broken. I earlier proposed a solution which obviously went to the bottom of your pile before it hit the burn bag.
In the days when half of our continent was empty, immigration was not a problem. Bring everybody in and have them head west. It was a Federal function, pure and simple.
It is different, now. Our continent is populated end to end. Different states have different economic situations. The time had come for each governor to determine the number of permanent residents it could see employed. The Federal government would tally the total across all states and that would be the number of immigrants the country would receive. Forecast five years out
That would have been statesmanship.
By the way. Did anybody in your office calculate the total cost of this bill?
Rauner is just another big business open borders supporter.
We already knew that when he previously signed legislation to give some illegal aliens the ‘right’ to Medicaid.
As far as I am concerned he is SCUM.
Voting for William Kelly for Governor. If you have a problem with that, name somebody else. Put up or shut up.
If Illinois agencies notify ICE when a criminal alien is about to be released, and cooperates by delaying the release as requested, the federal arrest will done and over. If ICE is forced to arrest the subject at home or elsewhere, it is likely that other illegal aliens will be swept up at the same time and deported, whether they have committed other crimes or not.
Civil and criminal penalties for interfering with a federal agent are substantial.
As O’Henry would ask, “Which door is the one to choose?”
Pro-Immigration Pro-Abortion RINO Billionaire Bruce Rauner has now turned us into a Sanctuary State. Anyone who claims this is a “Republican” governor is either delusional, lying through his teeth, or has been bought off by Rauner’s $Billions$. Conservatives in Illinois are ignored by Rauner and his minions – time for us to ignore THEM at the ballot box in 2018
Gov. Rauner, there is only 1 reason you signed this bill. Hoping to garner votes for your re-election. Unfortunately, since your wife also chimed in (after, I’m sure, tweeting with her BFF Madigan’s wife) that she considers herself and her husband “social justice warriors,” I will not be supporting you since I don’t vote for social justice warrior democrats.
not voting for you in next election Gov.Rauner
How disgusting that Rauner signed IL in as a SANCTUARY STATE! I could not believe that he sold every descent person out in IL. His comments of why he signed the bill are counter productive of the truth. Who paid him off and for what possible reason would he do this.
A republican — what a cruel joke!!!
Illegal Aliens have stolen Social Security numbers and there should be ZERO protection for the fraud. Rauner step down, you are an alien to the Republican Party that elected you.