Pritzker slams House Republicans after sanctuary law hearing: ‘Again, nothing accomplished'

After testifying before the House Oversight Committee in Washington, D.C. for eight hours on Thursday over the state of Illinois' sanctuary policies, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said ultimately, nothing was accomplished.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After testifying before the House Oversight Committee in Washington, D.C. for eight hours on Thursday over the state of Illinois' sanctuary policies, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said ultimately, nothing was accomplished.

"This Republican majority was not at all interested in addressing comprehensive immigration reform, which is what we need in this country, and instead, they simply attacked three Democratic governors who are all trying to deal with the failures of this Congress," Pritzker said. "Look, the Republicans have a bare majority in the House of Representatives, and they control the government. They should work with Democrats to get this reform done. They should have listened to us about the challenges that we have in dealing with their failures, but they did not. It was just attack after attack and it's too bad. We had an awful lot to offer."

Gov. Pritzker speaks after testifying for 8 hours before Congress

Pritzker, along with fellow Democratic governors Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kathy Hochul of New York, appeared in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

What we know:

Pritzker appeared before the committee alongside Democratic governors Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kathy Hochul of New York to testify on state-level immigration policies, including Illinois' status as a sanctuary state.

The hearing also touched on the incident that day in which U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was shoved and handcuffed during a press conference led by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and officials from the Department of Homeland Security.

"They showed no respect about the attack on Senator Padilla. All he wanted was just answers to questions. He went into a press conference that Kristi Noem was running, tried to ask questions and instead was thrown down to the ground and handcuffed. I mean, this is Donald Trump's America, where they take a Democratic senator, throw him down on the ground, and handcuff him for just wanting answers that his constituents need for him to do the job," Pritzker said.

Another tense exchange came with U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., who cited a report that Pritzker had called for "mass protests, mobilization and disruption."

She then asked whether he would commit to working with the Trump administration and ICE to prevent violence like that seen during protests in Los Angeles.

"We work every day with our federal government… we do all the time work with the federal government, with law enforcement," Pritzker said.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Miller said.

Following the hearing, Pritzker criticized Miller, saying she "brings nothing home to her district."

"Mary Miller is a terrible congresswoman for her district. She literally brings nothing home to the district. She does not believe in doing things for her constituents and, instead, all she does is attack, attack, and attack. She does that on her Twitter account, she does that on her Facebook account. She barely shows up for her constituents and almost never wants to engage in conversation about actual policies that will help the people of her district," Pritzker said.

Illinois TRUST Act :

Throughout the hearing, lawmakers repeatedly brought up Illinois’ TRUST Act, which limits how much local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

The law, enacted in 2017 under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, has faced renewed scrutiny.

Pritzker was asked if he would consider making any updates to the law, to which he responded, "I think the TRUST Act has done the work that it's supposed to do in an environment in which the federal government is not doing its job."

"I said to Congressman LaHood, ‘do your job.’ And I say that to all members of the Congress. It is time for comprehensive immigration reform," Pritzker added.

Pritzker closed his remarks after the hearing by condemning the overall conduct of the Republican-led committee.

"An entire day of just harping on things that, frankly, were mostly false," he said. "Would I say it was a waste? I think this entire Republican-controlled Congress is a waste."

J.B. Pritzker Immigration Politics Illinois Politics News