SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Political students at the University of Chicago had the opportunity to learn from Gov. JB Pritzker during a moderated conversation with Wall Street Journal White House reporter Sabrina Siddiqui. The future leaders were also able to ask questions about major topics in Illinois and national politics.
Illinois has been in the spotlight after becoming the first state in the country to abolish cash bail. While many Republicans were concerned about the law and even described it as the purge, Pritzker said the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act is going well.
However, Pritzker admitted that there are still some adjustments needed for attorneys and judges.
“State’s attorneys are not used to having to go in and make a case for keeping somebody in jail who is a flight risk or danger to the community,” Pritzker said. “They’re not used to having to make that case. They would just go in and say ‘we want this much bail.’ Right? Now they have to actually make a case about why somebody has to be kept in jail.”
Pritzker said he will continue to advocate for a national ban on assault weapons and switches to prevent mass shootings. The Democrat said he is proud Illinois is one of ten states that have banned assault style rifles and high capacity magazines.
When asked to discuss concerns about gun violence in Chicago, Pritzker noted that 60% of the violent gun crimes in the city involve guns that came from Indiana.
“It’s false to say that if there’s gun violence in Chicago, it means that all of this is a failure,” Pritzker said. “What it means is guns are pouring in from outside. Every state around us is a Republican controlled state.”
The governor said he has spoken with President Joe Biden several times about how the country can implement such a plan. Assault weapons owners in Illinois have until January 1 to register their firearms with the Illinois State Police.
The University of Chicago panel also touched upon the ongoing migrant crisis. Pritzker said Illinois cares deeply about addressing the humanitarian crisis. Although, he also stressed that Illinois won’t be able to consistently manage the large number of people arriving in Chicago on buses from southern states. Pritzker said he told the Biden administration that the federal government should take over logistics for the asylum seekers.
“We can’t leave it to the governor of Texas or to mayors in various cities in Texas,” stressed Pritzker. “We need to make sure that people are being dispersed into places where they can be cared for, where they can get healthcare and shelter, and make sure that they have the things they need moving forward.”
The governor suggested that Democrats and Republicans in Congress need to work together to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Gov. JB Pritzker talks during a moderated discussion with political students at the University of Chicago on October 11, 2023.
Students also asked how the governor could justify ongoing issues within the state’s child welfare system. A recent audit of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services found that the agency did not comply with several sections of the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act from July 2020 to June 2022.
DCFS is required to report cases of death, serious injury, torture and other types of abuse to law enforcement within 24 hours. However, it took the agency 5 to 43 days to alert police and state attorneys in 20% of the reports examined in the recent audit.
Auditors also wrote that DCFS took between 431-906 days to inform schools about investigations of abuse and neglect when state law requires notification within 10 days. DCFS also waited 218-290 days to report cases of infants testing positive for drugs to law enforcement.
“There are about 83 things that need to change at the Department of Children and Family Services,” Pritzker said. “We’ve been able to check the boxes on some of them but not all of them. But an important part of it is you have to fund the department so that we can hire more – and we have – investigators and make sure that we’ve got the right kind of care that we can provide to these kids.”
Pritzker noted that a new director will provide more opportunities for reform within DCFS, as Marc Smith plans to leave his role at the end of this year.
But many young people are also preparing for the 2024 election with some voters concerned about the front-runners being President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump. Pritzker said the country was in terrible shape at the end of Trump’s term in the White House.
“He was unwilling and unable to help manage one of the most serious crises that we faced in this nation,” Pritzker stressed. “It was Joe Biden that rescued the country, both health-wise and the economy.”
The governor also told students that he hopes to see less division and more bipartisanship in politics, both in Illinois and Washington D.C.
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