adminIllinois Democrats tried to turn Veterans Day into a political attack by singling out federal immigration agents sent to restore order in Chicago, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker used the occasion to criticize the enforcement effort. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino didn’t stay silent — he took his message to national audiences on Newsmax and other outlets to push back on what he calls dangerous rhetoric. The governor’s theatrics on a day meant to honor service and sacrifice only underscore how politicized law enforcement has become in blue cities.
On Newsmax, Bovino blasted Pritzker’s language as false and incendiary, warning that attacks on federal agents don’t just score political points — they put lives at risk. He accused the governor of empowering “weaker-minded” people to act against officers and pointed to cartel-linked threats and bounties that have made the work of protecting the public more perilous. This wasn’t a tepid press release; it was a blunt defense of men and women who answer to the law, not to political theater.
The federal operation in Chicago — branded Operation Midway Blitz — has produced thousands of arrests and taken violent criminals off the streets, even as local officials howl about federal involvement. DHS and Newsmax have pointed to hundreds or more removals during the campaign, evidence that enforcing immigration law yields tangible results for public safety. If Democrats genuinely cared about veterans and victims, they’d applaud officers who make neighborhoods safer instead of using those actions for campaign fodder.
Those brave agents haven’t been met with gratitude; they’ve been met with hostility, thrown objects, and even gunfire. Federal officials said a driver opened fire on Border Patrol agents during a recent Little Village operation, and videos and eyewitness reports show protesters hurling paint cans and bricks at agents’ vehicles. This is the reality — not the sanitized version offered by liberal politicians who prioritize optics over order.
Even as agents face real danger on the streets, federal judges have weighed in on tactics, ordering more oversight and restrictions after incidents involving tear gas and crowd-control measures. Judge Sara Ellis criticized certain uses of force and required increased reporting, body-worn cameras, and accountability — a legal back-and-forth that highlights how chaotic the handoff has become between federal enforcement and activist politics. The law must be followed, but so must respect for the officers who carry it out.
Rather than standing with the people who risk their lives, too many local leaders prefer virtue-signaling and sanctuary slogans that amount to invitations for cartels and gangs to operate with impunity. Bovino and DHS officials have warned about cartel ties, bounties on agents, and the real, ugly consequences of lax policies — warnings that should terrify any sensible leader who values public safety. If politics means sacrificing safe streets, then those politicians ought to be held accountable at the ballot box.
Reports now say Bovino and many of the agents who answered the call might be pulled out of Chicago, another example of how political pressure can blunter federal efforts to secure our cities. Appeals courts and judges have paused and adjusted orders, but the message from the street is clear: when the people who enforce the law are shamed into retreat, criminals win. America’s neighborhoods deserve better than performative fealty to extremists who put ideology ahead of safety.
Hardworking Americans — veterans especially — know what service really costs, and they won’t forget who stood up for law and order when it mattered. We should be thanking agents like Greg Bovino for doing an unpopular job that keeps citizens safe, not allowing governors to use solemn days for petty political attacks. It’s time to stop the show trials and start backing the men and women who protect our streets; our families and our freedom depend on it.
