DeKalb Times

Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) sees just one way for preventing more of the tragedies like the one that led to the hit-and-run death of Normal father of two Corey Cottrell by a driver who was found to be in the country illegally.

“It’s going to take federal legislation and federal action to stop having the immigration laws arbitrarily enforced among state and local jurisdictions throughout the U.S.,” Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal. “If you’re here in the country illegally, you violate our laws and come into contact with law enforcement, people should be able to contact the federal government. It’s just wrong that we have such a loophole where states and local officials, by law, are prevented from contacting federal authorities.”

The Prairie State Wire has previously reported the 39-year-old Cottrell was struck and killed on June 22 by a van driven by Jose Rodriguez, who reportedly has been in the country illegally since 2013. 

“He should have been deported years ago,” Ives said. “I think it’s just wrong that we don’t know that people like him are going to be handed over to immigration for deportation.”

Ives said she sympathizes with family members who on top of everything else must now also contend with the knowledge that Rodriguez may soon be free after a judge reduced his bond to $100,000. Under the ruling, the Honduras native was set to walk out of the McLean County Detention Facility early this month unless federal immigration officials arrived in time to pick him up and deport him.

“They think the law is arbitrary and doesn’t apply to everyone,” Ives said of lawmakers across the state who support Illinois’ status as a sanctuary state. “If you overstay your visa, being here illegally is illegal. I don’t know what people don’t understand about that.”

Illinois officially became a sanctuary state in 2017 when former Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the Trust Act, which restricts enforcement from contacting ICE if they have an illegal immigrant in custody into law.

Ives, who formally served as state representative in the 42nd district for six years and narrowly lost out to Rauner in the Republican primary in 2018, recently launched her campaign against U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) in the 6th District.