(The Center Square) – Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says public safety is under attack by the Trump administration.
The governor spoke Thursday at a news conference intended to highlight violence intervention efforts on Chicago’s Far South Side.
“Public safety is under attack by the Trump administration. Over the past few months, the White House has dissolved the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, they’ve threatened dramatic cuts to ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), they’ve repealed the policy of zero tolerance for rogue gun dealers. They’re making it easier for guns to flow into our communities and harder for us to fight back,” Pritzker said.
“Donald Trump is OK if people in Chicago die. Why? Because he wants to cut life-saving programs, that’s what’s going to happen. People will die if we cut violence intervention programs,” Pritzker added.
In September 2023, President Joe Biden established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which was overseen by then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Chicago Flips Red founder Zoe Leigh said Pritzker is the one who is a threat.
“He is a threat to the state of Illinois being the governor. Our mayor is a threat to the city of Chicago being the mayor, because they don’t care about the Chicago citizens’ safety. If they did, we wouldn’t be a sanctuary state any more,” Leigh said.
Illinois state Rep. Justin Slaughter, state Sen. Robert Peters and state Sen. Elgie Sims also spoke at Thursday’s news conference.
Slaughter sponsored the state’s SAFE-T Act, which Pritzker signed into law in 2023. The legislation ended cash bail in Illinois.
Slaughter called Pritzker “the best governor in America.”
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is managing partner of Chicago CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny), an anti-gun violence organization which hosted Thursday’s event.
Duncan admitted that Chicago has suffered from violence for a long time.
“Chicago is six times more violent than New York. We are three to four times more violent than L.A. It doesn’t have to be that way,” Duncan said.
Duncan said the city had three consecutive years of violence reduction.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said, from the beginning of his administration, he has made it a priority to reduce violence and crime in the city.
“I’m proud to say, in the city of Chicago, crime is down,” Johnson stated.
The mayor cited a 23% decrease in homicides so far this year.
Chicago Flips Red vice president Danielle Carter-Walters said crimes involving noncitizen migrants were not reported.
“They were not recording anything that they did illegally. They just let it slide, let it go away. We know for a fact they are not reporting the illegal alien crime,” Carter-Walters told The Center Square.
Carter-Walters testified about Chicago’s noncitizen migrant sanctuary policies earlier this month before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
