Pritzker on immigration raids: 'We need to get rid of violent criminals,' not 'law-abiding' residents

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said he's eager to cooperate with federal immigration officials to "get rid" of criminals but questioned the basis for targeting "law-abiding" residents integrated into communities.

“Let me start by being clear that when we're talking about violent criminals who've been convicted and who are undocumented, we don't want them in our state. We want them out of the country. We hope they do get deported, and if that's who they're picking up, we're all for it,” Pritzker said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“They show up with a warrant, and we're going to hand over people who are in our prisons, who are in our jails, who fit that description,” he added.

Pritzker said, however, that “it’s quite disturbing” to him that officials have indicated they will be “going after people who are law-abiding, who are holding down jobs, who have families here, who may have been here for a decade or two decades, and they're often our neighbors and our friends.”

Pritzker said the best approach would be to provide a path to citizenship for those people.

“Why are we going after them?” he continued. “These are not people who are causing problems in our country, and what we need is a path to citizenship for them.”

“We need to secure our border. We need to get rid of the violent criminals, but we also need to protect people, at least the residents of Illinois and all across the nation who are just doing what we hope that immigrants will do,” he added.

The interview comes as immigration officials reportedly prepare immigration raids targeting more than two dozen cities, including Chicago.

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