Illinois Democrats meet to strategize on ways to block incoming Trump policies

A group of more than a dozen Chicago-area elected officials and nearly two dozen neighborhood organizations hosted a community meeting to share strategies for protecting policies already in place at the local and state levels with President-elect Donald Trump entering the White House.

State Rep. Lilian Jimenez, D-Chicago, was at the Roosevelt High School in Chicago. In an interview with ABC, she talked about addressing the legislative “gaps.”

“But also [what are the gaps] on the community organizing-side,” said Jimenez. “What are people gonna do to protect their neighbors?”

State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, said whatever the Democrats come up with won’t work.

"The governor has said that law enforcement will not cooperate. Well, law enforcement doesn’t like J.B. Pritzker. There’s federal funding tied to this, and all Trump has to do is cut federal funding. We are looking at an over $3 billion deficit, mainly because of the bad policies coupled with the open borders and the $3 billion we’ve spent on illegals in Illinois,” Niemerg told The Center Square. “The Democrats don’t know which way they are going right now, but Trump’s policies will be enforced and they will work.”

The state of Illinois faces a projected budget deficit of about $3 billion for the coming fiscal year, according to a report from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.

"The only reason this budget [fiscal year 2025] that Illinois is still some afloat is because of the federal COVID dollars,” said Niemerg. “But the problem was that that was a one-time spending allotment and the Democrats in Illinois made continuing appropriations, so now they have to find the money to fund these pet-projects and the money just isn’t there.”

Trump’s pick to be the “border czar,” Tom Homan, responded to Pritzker’s recent pledge to keep Illinois a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.

“Game on. We’ve got no problem going through him. I’ve got 20,000 men and women in ICE who are going to do their job with no apology,” Homan said. “And if any governor wants to stand in the way, go ahead and do it. We’ll see what happens. We’re not gonna be intimidated.”