EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Gov. JB Pritzker told Capitol News Illinois he’s unsure if the Trump administration will follow through on its once-promised spring ramp up of immigration enforcement in the Chicago region. He also addressed his approach to dealing with the president and speculation about a 2028 White House bid.
KEY QUOTE: “We were kind of the canary in the coal mine and developed the playbook on how to deal with them here in Chicago. And Minnesota picked up the ball and had to run with it writ large because of the number of ICE and CBP agents,” Pritzker said.
He added: “But I’ll just say one other thing having not heard whether they’re coming back or when: We are nevertheless prepared for it. And I think the people of the city and across the state of Illinois showed their willingness to stand up for each other.”
IMMIGRATION BACKGROUND: When Operation Midway Blitz wound down in November, federal officials teased a return with even more agents in March. But since then, there’s been a change in federal tactics. Greg Bovino was ousted from his role as Border Patrol “commander at large” and Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has left the agency. Pritzker said he hasn’t “heard when or whether they’re planning a large attack like they did to us last time, or like they did in Minnesota.”
TALKING TO TRUMP: Some Democrats have taken a different tack with Trump. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke with the president following the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seems to have charmed Trump despite the president labeling the socialist mayor a communist.
Pritzker, burned by deals he made with Trump in the past, said there are people in the White House – “typically not the ones you see on TV” – who can be trusted.
“But Donald Trump himself can’t be trusted,” he said. “You can’t make a deal with him, shake hands with him, and have something good happen and make an agreement, and then have him not renege on the agreement.
STAND UP TO A BULLY? “Nevertheless, I do think that he respects people who stand up and push back,” Pritzker said. “And I do think that one of the reasons that we’ve been successful in dealing with him has been because the people of Illinois and the leadership of Illinois have said, ‘we’re not allowing you to do anything that’s unconstitutional, that takes away people’s rights. We’re not going to allow you to attack our cities,’ for example. And I think so far, that’s been a successful strategy, and our tactics have been taken up by other states.”
2028 SPECULATION: Barack Obama announced his run for president in February 2007. With that timetable, there could realistically be some announcements about 11 months from now from candidates in the 2028 presidential race. Pritzker is among those viewed as a likely candidate for the Democratic nomination.
Pritzker told CNI that he’s focused on getting reelected in November and doesn’t “have any plans after.” But that “whatever decisions I would make would really be about what I think is best for the state of Illinois.”
“I LOVE THE JOB,” Pritzker said. “I’m going to keep doing the job and hope to win reelection.”
“I’m flattered, of course, that people have talked about me running for president,” Pritzker added. “We are the fifth largest economy in the country. We deserve to be a state where people consistently think of statewide officeholders as someone who could hold higher office.”
MEDIA MATTERS: Don’t expect him to start a podcast or follow the presidential hopeful cliché of writing an autobiographical book — although he has started a Substack.
“I’ll be a reader anyway, but right now, not thinking about writing any books,” Pritzker said. “And podcasts, as you pointed out, I’m a guest on a lot of podcasts, some of them Illinois-based and some of them national that get watched by people who live in Illinois. And so I’m going to keep doing that.”
MORE TO COME: We’ll publish the full interview on our YouTube page tomorrow morning and in tomorrow’s Capitol News Insider newsletter.
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