Gubernatorial candidate calls for reason, peace outside Illinois ICE facility

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski says repealing the TRUST Act to end the state’s sanctuary status is his top legislative priority.

Dabrowski held a press conference outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview Wednesday. He said Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have fanned the flames of extremists.

“It’s easy to talk big when you have security 24-7, taxpayer-funded security, like the governor and Chicago’s mayor, both partners in these sanctuary policies and hostility towards law enforcement,” Dabrowski said.

Dabrowski said Pritzker has characterized federal law enforcement officers as terrorists, while crime victims and their families have been largely forgotten.

Joe Abraham’s daughter Katie died in a crash involving a drunk driver who was in the country illegally. Abraham said the immigrant would be free in ten or fifteen years.

“This person will see the light of day again. Katie will not. I’ll never see her. She got death. I have a life sentence. That’s my Illinois, and it makes me very sad for our state,” Abraham said.

Katie Abraham died last January at the age of 20.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Midway Blitz in Katie Abraham’s honor.

Dabrowski formerly served as president of Wirepoints, which calculated the direct costs of Illinois welcoming programs for the undocumented at $2.2 billion from 2022 to early 2024. The programs included housing, food, legal services, transportation, healthcare and K-12 education costs paid by state and municipal taxpayers.

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the net cost of illegal immigration for the United States, at the federal, state, and local levels, was at least $150.7 billion at the start of 2023.

Wednesday afternoon, state Sens. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, and Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, joined the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights for a press conference on Chicago’s North Side.

According to an ICIRR statement, ICE continued to adopt “new tactics to abduct our neighbors and separate families.”

ICIRR said ICE detained and subsequently released two persons outside a North Side shelter on Tuesday.

“This represents a new tactic that ICE has deployed during their operation: targeting people at a shelter,” ICIRR stated.

Villivalam said he would not tolerate the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“ICE is not welcome here. They are not. Their actions are despicable. They should be ashamed of themselves,” Villivalam said.

A Chicago City Council Democratic Socialist Caucus member, Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, also participated in the ICIRR press conference.

Dabrowski said leaders show you who they are during times of civil strife.

“Do they fan the flames to score political points with the extremists regardless of the dangers they create, as Pritzker has done? Or do they call for reason, the rule of law and peaceful coexistence to prevail,” Dabrowski asked.

Dabrowski was asked why repealing the TRUST Act and the state’s sanctuary status was his top legislative priority.

“If we can’t get public safety right, how are we going to have a functioning state?” Dabrowski said.

Dabrowski noted that Chicago has led the U.S. in total number of murders 13 years in a row.