THE LOOP (WBBM Newsradio) -- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the latest fatal shooting by ICE agents in Minneapolis is another sign that President Trump is using immigration enforcement for his own political purposes, and that his approach needs to be abandoned.
"They call it an immigration force, but I would say it's becoming a secret police," the governor said during an unrelated event at the offices of the Michael Reese Health Trust, 200 W. Madison St.
Pritzker said the President's co-opting of ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents is unprecedented in American history.
"There are federal tax dollars being used in ways that are abusing people's Constitutional rights," he said. "This is the first time that we have a federal government that is literally attacking American citizens, and people who are here legally and taking away rights of people on the street who are protesting peacefully, and now you're seeing lives taken."
The governor said his advice at the beginning of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago - that people record ICE agents' activities on their cellphones - has helped reveal the truth about last Saturday's shooting by agents in Minneapolis that killed nurse Alex Pretti.
"You can see how important it is that people got out there and filmed what happened," he said, noting that the video evidence contradicted the original government version of events, including a description of Pretti as a "domestic terrorist."
The Administration appears to have recalled controversial Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino following the Minneapolis shooting, the governor said it doesn't matter who's in charge: "They can be demoted, they can be taken out of their position, moved to something else. They need to be held accountable."
And as the President asks Congress to approve a seven-fold increase in ICE funding, Pritzker praised Democratic Senators for objecting to the increase: "What Trump has built at ICE and CBP needs to be thrown out."