Fact Check: Can Illegal Immigrants Now Become Police Officers in Illinois?

A new bill allowing eligible non-U.S. citizens in Illinois to become police officers was signed into law by Governor J. B. Pritzker on Friday, amid criticism from some Republican lawmakers.

The measure—House Bill 3751—successfully passed the Democratic-controlled state House and the state Senate before being signed into law by the Democratic governor last week. The bill, which will come into force on January 1, 2024, allows eligible immigrants who are not in possession of U.S. citizenship to join law enforcement in Illinois—something that federal laws currently forbid.

The legislation has angered conservative lawmakers like Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert, who have attacked HB 3751 saying it allows illegal immigrants to become police officers in the traditionally blue state.

The Claim

"In the state of Illinois, illegals can now become police officers. Yes, you heard that right,"Boebert tweeted on Sunday.

"People who are breaking the law by their presence here can now arrest American citizens. You know the other blue states are watching and getting ready to implement this idea as soon as they can!" the Republican congresswoman wrote. "We either address this border crisis or allow our country to descend further into a Leftist dystopia."

The same claim was repeated by Illinois Republican Mary Miller, who tweeted on Saturday: "At 5 p.m. yesterday, when no one was paying attention, Pritzker signed a bill to allow illegal immigrants to become police officers, giving non-citizens the power to arrest citizens in our state," she wrote. "No sane state would allow foreign nationals to arrest their citizens, this is madness!"

In May, Illinois Republican Senator Chapin Rose had condemned the bill, per The Daily Wire. He said: "It's just a fundamentally bad idea. I don't care where this individual is from—Australia. They should not be able to arrest a United States citizen on United States soil."

The bill was also denounced by the Fraternal Order of Police, an organization consisting of law enforcement officers nationwide. "What message does this legislation send when it allows people who do not have legal status to become the enforcers of our laws?" the FOP asked in a statement.

The organization said: "This is a potential crisis of confidence in law enforcement at a time when our officers need all the public confidence they can get."

The bill's primary sponsor, Democratic Rep. Barbara Hernandez, defended the bill saying that the measure is a "natural progression" of the federal government's 2021 decision to allow some undocumented immigrants to become healthcare workers and military members, as reported by CBS News.

The Facts

According to the bill's description on the Illinois General Assembly's website, it amends the state's Municipal Code providing that "an individual who is not a citizen but is legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law is authorized to apply for the position of police officers."

Eligible non-U.S. citizens are subject "to all requirements and limitations, other than citizenship, to which other applicants are subject," and must be able to obtain, carry, purchase, or otherwise possess a firearm under federal law.

Foreign nationals "against whom the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have deferred immigration action under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) process" will also be eligible, according to the bill's text.

That means that individuals who came to the country illegally as children and received a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation—known as the DACA process—will be able to apply to become police officers in Illinois. DACA recipients are protected from deportation and have a work permit, though the program does not grant them official legal status.

DACA was declared illegal in 2021 by Judge Andrew Hanen, who closed the program for new applicants saying that the Obama administration had not followed federal administrative rules when introducing it in 2012 by executive order. An appellate court in October 2022 declared the program "unlawful."

The Ruling

Needs Context.

While Boebert's and Miller's tweets appear to be blanket statements claiming that Illinois will allow all illegal immigrants to apply to become police officers in the state, the bill is specific about its requirements.

Only non-U.S. citizens who are allowed to work in the U.S. under federal law and individuals who entered the country without valid documents as children but who were allowed to stay without fears of deportation under the DACA program will be able to apply to become part of Illinois law enforcement.

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