DHS accuses Illinois Governor Pritzker of spreading an ‘assortment of lies’

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has accused Illinois Governor JB Pritzker of serving the American public a “smorgasbord of lies” by releasing a list that he says “debunks” his claims about federal law enforcement operations in Chicago.

The federal refusal comes as Democratic Gov. and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson filed a lawsuit Monday to block the Trump administration from deploying hundreds of National Guard troops from Illinois and Texas to Chicago and surrounding cities.

“Our message to JB Pritzker: Get out of your mansion and visit Chicago,” DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “If JB Pritzker actually walked the streets of his own city, he would see domestic terrorists and violent rioters attacking police officers and the scourge of violent crime as a direct result of his own policies.”

DHS added that it was “setting the record straight on Pritzker’s lies and defending the brave men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) against his smears and smears.”

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Federal agents in an armored vehicle drive toward protesters near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, October 3, 2025. At right, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Scott Olson/Getty Images)

At a press conference Monday, Pritzker said there had been “an unconstitutional invasion of Illinois by the federal government” and that “for weeks now, Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and (U.S. Border Patrol Commanding General) Gregory Bovino have brought their militarized CBP and ICE agents to the streets of Chicago to provoke violence and chaos in this city. »

However, DHS said the “reality” is that “this is neither unconstitutional nor an invasion.”

“President Trump has the authority under the Constitution to deploy troops, wherever stationed, to defend federal installations from attack,” he added in response to Pritzker’s first claim on the list. “Whether it’s the ICE facility in Broadview or the courthouse in Portland, we will defend federal properties wherever they come under siege.”

In a appearance on CNN On Monday, Pritzker said: “People are being detained, they are being arrested: American citizens. They did this when they attacked a building in the middle of the night on the South Shore (Chicago). One hundred and thirty people were emptied from this building.

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Law enforcement officers arrest a protester near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois, Friday, October 3, 2025. (AP/Erin Hooley)

“Law enforcement conducted a targeted operation at an apartment building in the South Shore community of Chicago,” DHS said in response. “This operation, led by CBP, FBI and ATF, resulted in the arrest of 37 illegal aliens, from countries including Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and Nigeria. Among them were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and violent criminals.”

“DHS has consistently debunked the absurd claim that DHS targets U.S. citizens during ICE operations. ICE does not arrest or deport U.S. citizens. All U.S. citizens arrested are arrested for obstructing or assaulting law enforcement,” he also said.

Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The Illinois governor said Monday: “On September 12, ICE shot and killed a man in Franklin Park, a nearby Chicago suburb. His name was Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez. Reports indicate he had just dropped his children off at a daycare and was on his way to work.”

“Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was an illegal alien who, when ordered by law enforcement to stop his car, instead drove his car at the officers. One of the ICE agents was struck by the car and dragged a significant distance. Fearing for his own life and public safety in general, the agent fired his weapon,” according to DHS. “Despite his injuries, the officer and his partner immediately began administering emergency medical care to the illegal alien, who was pronounced dead. Villegas-Gonzalez, who was the target of the operation, was a criminal illegal alien with a history of dangerous driving.”

Federal law enforcement officers disperse protesters outside an immigration processing center with a barrage of tear gas and pepper balls, September 27, 2025, in Broadview, Illinois. (Getty Images)

Then Pritzker added: “In the small village of Broadview, population 8,000, federal agents transformed two city blocks from protest zones into a war zone by firing tear gas and chemical agents at peaceful demonstrators. »

“The riots against DHS and other law enforcement in Illinois have been anything but peaceful. Over the weekend, Border Patrol law enforcement agents were ambushed by domestic terrorists who rammed their vehicles into federal agents,” Homeland Security said. “A woman, Marimar Martinez, driving one of the vehicles, was armed with a semi-automatic weapon and had a history of doxxing federal agents. She came under defensive fire from CBP agents, was released from the hospital and is currently in FBI custody. The driver of another vehicle, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, involved in the ramming, said was apprehended by the police.”

Pritzker also said Monday that “peaceful protesters have been hit with tear gas and shot with rubber bullets. Journalists who were simply reporting the facts on the ground were targeted and arrested. American citizens, including children, were traumatized and detained. This escalation of violence is targeted, intentional and premeditated.

“The First Amendment protects peaceful speech and assembly, not rioting. DHS takes reasonable and constitutional steps to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers,” DHS said in response. “ICE agents are facing a nearly 1,000% increase in assaults on them as they risk their lives to arrest murderers, rapists and gang members. We remind members of the media to exercise caution when covering these violent riots and remind journalists that covering illegal activities in the field carries risks – even as our agents take every reasonable precaution to mitigate these dangers for those who exercise rights protected by the First Amendment.”

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President Donald Trump’s administration clashed with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker over the deployment of the National Guard to the Chicago area. (Getty Images)

During his CNN interview with host Jake Tapper, Pritzker also said, “They do neighborhood raids, where instead of going after the bad guys, they just pick up the missing brown and (B) people and then check their credentials.”

“Since Operation Midway Blitz began in Illinois last month, ICE and CBP agents have arrested more than 1,000 illegal aliens, including the world’s worst pedophiles, child molesters, kidnappers, gang members and armed robbers,” DHS said. “We also arrested several members of the Tren de Aragua gang and illegal aliens with criminal histories that include drug trafficking, child rape, and murder, among other violent convictions. Allegations that DHS law enforcement agents engage in “racial profiling” are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE. What makes a person A target for immigration enforcement is whether she is in the United States illegally – NOT her skin color, race or ethnicity.

Finally, Pritzker said, “There were people who were detained, elderly people, children tied up, elderly people detained for three hours at a time” during the South Shore operation.

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“The claim that a child was tied up came from a screenshot that went viral, with the original poster claiming it showed an ICE officer restraining a child. This has been debunked: the screenshot in question came from a parody video on TikTok for entertainment purposes, where the officer in the video was the father of the child seen in the image,” according to DHS.

Breanne Deppisch of Fox News contributed to this report.