Category: illinois
Records Show FBI Objecting to Mar-a-Lago Raid
Records Show FBI Objecting to Mar-a-Lago Raid Judicial Watch Sues Fed for Subpoenas about $2.5 Billion Renovation Federal Court Allows Suit against Evanston Reparations to Continue States Sue USDA Over Gender, Immigration Rules to Get Billions Happy Easter! Records Show FBI Objecting to Mar-a-Lago Raid We obtained 207 pages of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) […]
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Illinois city denied motion to dismiss lawsuit against reparations program
From Fox News: A federal court denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against an Illinois town’s reparations program on Friday. U.S. District Judge John F. Kness allowed a lawsuit from conservative group Judicial Watch against Evanston, Illinois to move forward. Judicial Watch filed a class action civil rights lawsuit against the city because of […]
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Lawsuit against Evanston’s reparations program gets judge’s OK to move forward
From Crain’s Chicago Business: The 2024 lawsuit was filed by six people with hereditary ties to Evanston and by Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group. The suit claims that by providing money only to Black people as recompense for a segregated 20th century housing market, Evanston’s Local Reparations Historical Housing Program violates the Equal Protection […]
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Did Illinois Dems Just Rebuke Wokeness?
Daniel Biss is not my kind of politician, and if you’re reading The American Spectator, he likely isn’t yours either….
‘ICE on Notice’: Chicago Mayor Johnson threatens to prosecute federal agents enforcing immigration laws
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) signed an “ICE on Notice” executive order on Saturday, threatening to prosecute Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for potential misconduct.
Johnson’s executive action directed the Chicago Police Department to “investigate and document alleged illegal activity by federal immigration agents and refer evidence of felony violations to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for prosecution.”
‘Instead of working with us, Illinois sanctuary politicians RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly back into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims.’
CPD officers are directed to document federal enforcement activities, including by recording body-camera footage and verifying names and badge numbers of federal supervisory officers on the scene. Police are required to submit a complete report detailing any alleged violations.
Any documented illegal activities will be shared with the public, according to the city.
The mayor claimed that the order created “a framework for public accountability in the event federal agents violate local or state law while operating in Chicago.”
Johnson further alleged that the Trump administration’s federal immigration operations have “violated constitutionally protected rights.” He also claimed that ICE activities have “destabilized communities” and “provoked life-threatening confrontations.”
RELATED: Seattle’s sanctuary mayor orders local police to investigate ICE activities
Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
“Nobody is above the law. There is no such thing as ‘absolute immunity’ in America,” Johnson stated. “The lawlessness of Trump’s militarized immigration agents puts the lives and well-being of every Chicagoan in immediate danger. With today’s order, we are putting ICE on notice in our city. Chicago will not sit idly by while Trump floods federal agents into our communities and terrorizes our residents.”
In a statement to the Center Square, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara Jr. called Johnson’s executive order political bluster.
“The only good thing in that piece of toilet paper is ‘no CPD member will be required to arrest any federal agents,'” Catanzara said.
Catanzara raised concerns that the order requires police to document any allegations of misconduct against a federal agent.
“That needs to be a two-way street, and I will advise our members of such. Citizens can also be named offenders,” he said.
“These claims of criminal misconduct by ICE law enforcement are FALSE,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with WLS-TV.
McLaughlin stated that under President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, “ICE is held to the highest professional standard, and officers regularly receive ongoing training.”
“As our brave law enforcement arrests and removes dangerous criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, and gang members from our communities, America can be proud of the professionalism our officers bring [to] the job, day in and day out,” the statement continued. “Instead of working with us, Illinois sanctuary politicians RELEASE violent criminals from their jails directly back into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims.”
McLaughlin contended that the state’s sanctuary policies had led to the release of 1,768 criminal illegal aliens since January 20. She noted that there are over 4,000 immigrants with active detainers currently incarcerated in Illinois jails.
Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson (D) took similar action against federal immigration agents last week, requiring the Seattle Police Department to investigate, verify, and document immigration enforcement activity.
The Seattle Police Officers Guild called the mayor’s action “toothless virtue-signaling rhetoric,” declaring that the “concept of pitting two armed law enforcement agencies against each other is ludicrous and will not happen.”
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Judicial Watch Sues Chicago Treasurer Over Plan to Halt U.S. Treasury Purchases
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed an Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against Melissa Conyears-Ervin, treasurer of the City of Chicago, for details of her declared plan to stop buying new U.S. Treasury securities and divest the city of indirect holdings (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Chicago Treasurer’s Office (No. 2026CH00302)). […]
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Pritzker sides with criminals once again, signing controversial ‘Clean Slate’ bill into law
Despite an appalling violent crime problem in Chicago, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has signed a bill protecting convicts, making it easier for them to get past hiring filters and find jobs in Illinois.
On Saturday, Pritzker signed the Clean Slate Act, which will enable officials to seal non-violent criminal records for over 1.7 million people in Illinois, Fox 32 Chicago reported.
Just last month, Gov. Pritzker fortified the state’s sanctuary laws.
The new law will require eligible records to be sealed by 2029.
The law applies only to non-violent convictions and dismissed or reversed charges and arrests. More serious crimes, such as sexual violence, DUI, or any crimes that require sex offender registration, are not eligible for automatic sealing.
While this particular law excludes violent felonies, it comes at a time when violent incidents on Chicago trains are making national headlines.
Moreover Pritzker has a long history of siding with suspected law-breakers over victims. In 2023, cashless bail became the law of the state, thanks to the SAFE-T Act he signed previously. Just last month, he fortified the state’s sanctuary laws, prohibiting federal immigration agents from conducting operations near courthouses, hospitals, university campuses, and day-care centers.
RELATED: Chicago Bears may leave city over rift with Democrat leadership
John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The Clean Slate Act is celebrated by the Democrats as a jobs initiative, since many businesses use background checks to filter out candidates with prior convictions. Once the records are sealed, that traditional filter will be less robust, allowing potential former convicts to remain in the running.
“There is no reasonable public safety justification for making it hard for returning citizens to get a job or housing or an education,” Pritzker said, according to Fox 32. “It’s a policy guided by punishment rather than rehabilitation.”
The Clean Slate Initiative lists Pennsylvania, Utah, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, and New York as states that have passed legislation that meets their criteria for Clean Slate laws. Washington, D.C., is also listed.
The criteria include automation of record sealing, including arrest and misdemeanor records. The Clean Slate Initiative also includes a “strong recommendation for laws to include eligibility of at least one felony record.”
Sheena Meade, CEO of the Clean Slate Initiative, stated: “Our coalition partners — including Live Free Illinois, the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments, the Workers Center for Racial Justice, Impact for Equity, and Code for America — and bill sponsors Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth and Sen. Elgie Sims have shown the resolve, persistence, and heart needed to drive real change.”
The new law will take effect June 1.
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‘Pegged as a pedophile sympathizer’: Pro-LGBTQ founder of Montessori school accused of grooming, exploiting child under 13
The founder and board president of a new K-12 Montessori school in Illinois has been arrested on charges of grooming and exploiting a young child.
On January 9, Effingham police officers moved quickly to arrest 32-year-old Dakota “Kody” Czerwonka of Montrose after receiving a report that a student at Crossroads Montessori School had received “inappropriate electronic messages.” Czerwonka was “immediately identified” as the suspect, Effingham PD said in a statement.
He even unsuccessfully ran for the Illinois House in 2020 on a platform of environmental, economic, social, LGBTQ+, and racial ‘justice.’
Details of the case are scarce, but court records show Czerwonka has been charged with grooming and exploiting a child under 13/exposing self, both Class 4 felonies. He is scheduled to appear in court again on January 29.
Prosecutors also filed to deny Czerwonka pretrial release from custody. At his initial court appearance on Monday, the court agreed with the petition, claiming that Czerwonka poses “a real and present threat to the community and … the minor victim” that “no condition or combination of conditions can mitigate.”
Effingham police confirmed that they “support” his ongoing pretrial detention.
“After reviewing the content of the case after it was reported to our Department, Officers immediately identified a very real safety risk and promptly effected an arrest of the subject, thereby eliminating any further opportunities for this individual to be in contact with other students or children. I’m very pleased with their efforts. They showed dedication to ensuring the safety of our community through these actions,” said a statement from Police Chief Kurt Davis.
The office of an attorney who appeared with Czerwonka in court did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.
Czerwonka has a long history of far-left political activism. He even unsuccessfully ran for the Illinois House in 2020 on a platform of environmental, economic, social, LGBTQ+, and racial “justice,” according to an X profile for his independent campaign.
Posts from that account express support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). One post calls to “tear … down” the Electoral College.
Another X account linked to Czerwonka includes sexually charged images as well as LGBTQ+ propaganda. In 2020, Czerwonka even bragged that he had been “pegged as a pedophile sympathizer” on another social media platform for praising “Cuties,” a controversial movie previously available on Netflix that sexualizes young girls.
Crossroads Montessori School just opened last fall. In a July Facebook post, the school gave a short introduction of Czerwonka, describing him as someone who “brings a deep passion for empowering students through authentic Montessori education.”
“Kody has worn many hats.. teacher, nonprofit leader, advocate.. and now leads Crossroads with a vision to build a student-centered learning environment grounded in curiosity, independence, and compassion. Outside the classroom, Kody enjoys hiking, film, kayaking, and learning something new every day,” the post continued.
“He believes education is most powerful when it’s collaborative: not just teaching students, but growing alongside them.”
The school did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.
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Judicial Watch Statement on Supreme Court Victory Affirming Broad Candidate Standing to Bring Election Court Challenges
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton responded today to the Supreme Court of the United States 7-2 decision in favor of granting standing in a historic case filed on behalf of Congressman Mike Bost and two presidential electors, who were before the court to vindicate their standing in court to an Illinois law allowing […]
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BACK ON THE STREETS: Illinois Cuts Loose Criminal Illegals, ICE Says Public Safety on the Line
This is a dangerous game, Illinois is playing.
