Watch the full Daily Beltway report
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was caught in a glaring contradiction during a Fox News interview when pressed about his state’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
Fox News host Bret Baier asked Pritzker a straightforward question during the Bret Baier Fox News interview: Do you believe any illegal immigrant charged with or convicted of a felony should be deported? Pritzker answered that violent criminals should be removed from Illinois and the country. He said he absolutely believes that. Then he immediately added that federal efforts do not focus only on the worst offenders.
Baier followed up by pointing out the obvious problem. Illinois operates as a sanctuary state. That status means the state limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Pritzker denied it. He claimed Illinois does cooperate. He said the state will help if presented with a judicial warrant. He added that Illinois wants bad actors off the streets while avoiding what he called racial profiling.
BREAKING 🚨: Bret Baier: “Do you believe any illegal immigrant charged with or convicted of a felony should be deported?”
Gov. JB Pritzker: “I think they ought to take the violent criminals and get them out of my state and get them out of the country.”
Bret Baier: “You don’t… pic.twitter.com/msqOze1QXj
— Dr Charlie Ward (@DrcharlieWardQ) September 5, 2026
That answer does not match Illinois law. The state restricts local law enforcement from honoring federal immigration detainers in most cases. Even when an illegal immigrant is already in custody on serious criminal charges, Illinois law prevents local officials from holding that person for federal pickup without a judicial warrant. That creates a barrier to removing criminal illegal immigrants after they serve state sentences. Pritzker’s claim of full cooperation contradicts the legal framework his administration has defended for years.
Illinois enacted sanctuary policies under the Trust Act in 2017 and expanded them in subsequent years. Those laws prohibit state and local police from detaining individuals based solely on federal immigration detainers. They also ban participation in federal immigration enforcement operations in many circumstances. The Illinois sanctuary state law was signed into effect in 2018 under Governor Bruce Rauner and supported by Pritzker when he took office. Chicago, the state’s largest city, has maintained its own sanctuary ordinances since the 1980s. Pritzker has consistently defended these policies as protecting immigrant communities from what he characterizes as overreach.
Conservative critics have pointed out that sanctuary jurisdictions prioritize non-cooperation over public safety. When governors claim to support deporting violent criminals but maintain laws that block federal authorities from doing exactly that, the result is mixed messaging that leaves communities exposed. Pritzker’s insistence during the interview that Illinois assists federal efforts conflicts with the reality that his state’s laws make that cooperation difficult or impossible in many cases.
The interview segment highlighted the broader tension between states resisting federal immigration enforcement and the current administration’s priorities. President Trump has emphasized removing all criminal illegal immigrants, not just those convicted of violent crimes. Pritzker’s qualified support for deportation—limited to violent offenders and contingent on judicial warrants—does not align with that federal standard. His comments reflect the selective enforcement approach Illinois has followed under his leadership.
Pritzker also introduced the issue of racial profiling during the exchange. He claimed federal operations engage in profiling and that Illinois policies prevent that outcome. That framing shifts the conversation away from the core question: Should illegal immigrants who commit felonies be deported? Pritzker answered yes in theory but defended a system that makes removal harder in practice. That contradiction undermines his claim of cooperation.
The exchange also raises questions about accountability. If Illinois law prevents local officials from honoring detainers without a judicial warrant, and if federal authorities face obstacles obtaining those warrants quickly, then criminal illegal immigrants can be released back into communities before removal proceedings begin. That gap between state and federal action creates public safety risks that Pritzker did not address during the interview.
Pritzker’s answers fit a pattern seen in other sanctuary jurisdictions. Leaders assert support for removing the worst offenders while maintaining legal structures that complicate or block that removal. The governor’s denial that Illinois is a sanctuary state—despite the clear language of state law—suggests an unwillingness to confront the practical consequences of those policies. His administration has defended sanctuary rules as necessary protections for immigrant communities, but the interview revealed the conflict between that position and his stated belief that violent criminals should be deported.
The Bret Baier Fox News interview put Pritzker on the spot, and his response exposed the disconnect between rhetoric and reality. Illinois is a sanctuary state by law. That status limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Pritzker can claim otherwise, but the statutes speak for themselves. When a governor says he wants violent criminals removed while maintaining policies that shield them from prompt federal action, the public is left to reconcile the contradiction. Baier’s questioning made that contradiction impossible to ignore.