If you are suspected of committing a crime in the state of Illinois, you may soon be subject to arrest by someone who is certainly, admittedly, undoubtedly breaking the law at that very moment: that is, an illegal alien/police officer.
In a move that smacks of Kafkaesque madness, the governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, has signed into law a bill that, starting January 1, 2024, would enable illegal aliens to become police officers. Although federal statutes expressly forbid it, the law’s creators think they have found a way around those statutes by reference to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Obama-era executive order that allows still-illegal foreigners to obtain work permits and to live freely in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
The signing, which occurred late last Friday just before the start of the late-July weekend, was decried by many Republicans and conservatives, including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) who tweeted:
In the state of Illinois, illegals can now become police officers. Yes, you heard that right. People who are breaking the law by their presence here can now arrest American citizens. You know the other blue states are watching and getting ready to implement this idea as soon as they can! We either address this border crisis or allow our country to descend further into a Leftist dystopia.
Defenders, such as Pritzker, claimed the bill’s opponents were misrepresenting the law, insisting that the bill would merely apply to noncitizens otherwise legally permitted to work and to own firearms. Yet Pritzker admitted that the law would also apply to DACA recipients, who–in spite of what dreamy Leftists believe–are still illegal.
Not only that, DACA itself remains legally controversial. Chronically in and out of the courts, it was declared illegal in 2021 by Judge Andrew Hanen, a United States district judge in Texas, who closed the program for new applicants. In October 2022, an appellate court declared it “unlawful.” Its long-term prospects remain in limbo, but that doesn’t stop hell-bent-for-election Leftists like the Illinois legislative majority from advancing their agenda.