Tag: illinois

Illinois State Police Trooper Charged for Allegedly Possessing, Distributing Child Porn

A state police trooper in Deerfield, Illinois, is facing child pornography charges linked to the app known as Kik.

The suspect is identified as 38-year-old Illinois State Police Trooper Colin Gruenke, the Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported on Friday.

“A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said an investigation began last year after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a report of the social networking platform Kik,” the article said.

Kik alerted authorities when it appeared someone was using a profile on the platform to upload and distribute files of child porn in September. Not long after the first tip was issued, Kik said another account was uploading and distributing files containing that form of material.

When those accounts were linked to the suspect and his home address, search warrants allowed officials to search the man and his residence.

“Agents conducted the search warrant for Gruenke at the Illinois State Police headquarters in Des Plaines on Wednesday and then conducted the warrant for the residence at his home shortly after,” the Scanner report said.

According to CBS News, the agents found evidence of deleted child porn on the cellphone he was holding at the time, and some of the images were reportedly of children whose ages were around four years old.

“Agents also executed a search warrant at his home, where they found a flash drive containing approximately 200 videos of child pornography, including numerous videos showing children being sexually abused by adults, including children as young as 10,” the CBS article read.

Gruenke, who was arrested Wednesday and placed on administrative leave without pay, is now the subject of an internal investigation by state police and is being held in custody.

Keep reading

Illinois Democrat Representative Ramirez Declares She Is American Second

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) is facing criticism after remarks made during the second annual Panamerican Congress held in Mexico, where she reportedly stated, “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.”

The comments were delivered in Spanish and confirmed by multiple Spanish speakers, according to the Daily Caller.

The summit, described by Daily Caller as a radical gathering organized by individuals tied to anti-American causes, featured Ramirez as one of several high-profile Democratic speakers.

Ramirez, who represents Illinois’ newly drawn (gerrymandered) 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, attended alongside fellow “Squad” members Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).

Keep reading

Texas Dems ripped for ‘cartoonishly dumb’ strategy to flee to blue state notorious for gerrymandering

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is rolling out the red carpet for Democratic state lawmakers who fled Texas as they push back against a move by President Donald Trump to add five Republican-controlled congressional seats in their state.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that they’re welcome here, that they have the ability to stay as long as they need to and want to,” Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Sunday evening as the lawmakers arrived in Illinois.

The lawmakers fled Texas in order to prevent the quorum needed in the Republican-dominated state legislature to vote on Monday on the new redistricting maps, which passed a committee vote this past weekend along party lines.

The redistricting push in Texas is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to keep control of the House and cushion losses elsewhere in the country, as the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats in midterm elections.

But veteran Republican strategist Matt Whitlock argued that the decision by most of the Democratic lawmakers to head to Illinois – with a few others decamping in two other blue states, New York and Massachusetts – was “cartoonishly dumb.”

Tom Bevan, the RealClearPolitics co-founder and president, wrote on X, “The idea that Texas Democrats would flee to Illinois, a state where Dems have abused gerrymandering to comical levels, is perfection.”

“To protest ‘partisan gerrymandering’ Texas Democrats are fleeing to…Illinois,” Republican Missouri Senator Eric Scmitt wrote on X. “You can’t make this up.”

Keep reading

DOE cancels $4.9B loan for energy project Illinois lawmaker calls a ‘scam’

The U.S. Department of Energy has canceled $4.9 billion in federal loans for the Grain Belt Express, a proposed multistate transmission line that faced pushback from Illinois landowners over concerns about property rights and eminent domain.

State Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, praised the DOE’s decision and called the project a “scam” driven by global investors and green energy lobbyists.

“This is a huge win for taxpayers in Illinois and across the United States,” Miller said in an interview. “It was an assault on property rights, on the livelihoods of Illinois farmers, and I’m proud to stand with my constituents against this scam.”

The 800-mile Grain Belt Express aimed to carry wind power from Kansas eastward but drew rural backlash over eminent domain, including opposition at a 2024 Meade County Kansas Corporation Commission hearing where resident Barbra Parker spoke.

“The current plan would place it approximately 150 feet from my front door. Over the years, through that very door, have walked my grandfather, my father, my grandmother, my mother, myself, and now my daughter Kate — four generations of farmers and ranchers,” said Parker. “So I’m asking Invenergy to work with me on possibly adjusting the route or considering micrositing alternatives. I’m asking that the commission oversee and ensure that micrositing is used.”

Micrositing in wind energy means fine-tuning turbine placement to boost output and reduce environmental impact.

Supporters say the Grain Belt Express would improve grid reliability, deliver lower-cost clean energy to major population centers and generate economic activity along its route.

In 2023, when the ICC approved the project, Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association said in a news release, “This project will deliver billions in energy cost savings. Energy infrastructure investment is key to ensuring our region maintains our traditional energy cost advantage and manufacturing competitiveness.”

Miller criticized the project as a costly green energy push that threatens farmland and drives up electric bills.

Keep reading

Drones, cameras, AI: University of Illinois real time crime center raises privacy concerns

Thousands of cameras. A fleet of drones. Gun shot detection devices. Stationary and vehicle-mounted automatic license plate readers.

A major metropolitan city? No, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Real-Time Information Center furnishes the institution’s Division of Public Safety with a number of technologically sophisticated tools that have some privacy experts alarmed.

The drones, gunshot detection devices, automatic license plate readers, and campus-wide system of roughly 3,000 security cameras are among the tools currently utilized at the campus, which enrolls about 59,000 students.

Social media monitoring programs and “AI-driven video analytics software” are also among the technologies being evaluated for possible future implementation, according to a document sent by Urbana Police Chief Larry Boone.

He sent it to city officials as they deliberate a proposed city ordinance to establish stricter approval, oversight, and transparency requirements for Urbana’s own acquisition and use of the kinds of surveillance tools being used by the university’s Real-Time Information Center.

According to the document, the Real-Time Information Center provides a wide array of services designed to enhance public safety, streamline operations, and support law enforcement agencies.

Keep reading

The Toxic Combination Of Illinois’ Sanctuary Status And The SAFE-T Act

It’s hard to believe he’s been walking freely for months. A woman overdosed in his home. He concealed her death and dumped her body in a bleach-filled trash can in his back yard – where it remained for more than two months. His alleged crimes were heinous.  Abuse of a corpse. Concealing a death and obstruction of justice. Class 4 felonies.

Yet after Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez was finally arrested, he couldn’t be held in jail. His alleged crimes didn’t qualify for pretrial detention under the SAFE-T Act, a law passed in 2021 that makes it more difficult to detain alleged criminals for certain crimes. The Act also made Illinois the first state in the country to ban cash bail altogether. 

Incredibly, authorities had yet another opportunity to put Mendoza-Gonzalez behind bars. He’s an illegal immigrant and could have been handed over to federal authorities. But Illinois’ sanctuary status meant, again, he was allowed to walk free while awaiting trial. 

It’s an infuriating example of how criminals in Illinois are prioritized over victims and their families. And how two laws – Illinois’ sanctuary status and the SAFE-T Act – can combine to wreak havoc on Illinoisans.

How many offenders in Illinois have been let out before trial due to an undetainable crime and then committed yet more offenses? It’s hard to know, but CWB Chicago in their “not horrible” series has at least compiled a list of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others while on pretrial release for a felony allegation.

Keep reading

Government finally recognizes the Second Amendment

How far has America fallen when the DOJ’s Civil Rights division files an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting the Second Amendment against Illinois, and that filing is unusual? How can it be that the DOJ defending a fundamental, unalienable, express constitutional right should be rare, so rare as to be surprising, even astonishing?

If Democrats and their media propaganda arm are to be believed, Donald Trump is a dictator bent on destroying “our democracy.” Ironically, they’re right. He is determined to destroy “our—their—democracy,” which is a tyranny of the majority. That’s why Dems are so desperate to keep every illegal in the country. They want that 50.0000001%, which in a democracy rules. In “our democracy” the majority can deprive the minority of property, rights, liberty, even life. Thus did Biden’s Handler’s Forestry Service try to imprison South Dakota ranchers Charles and Heather Maude over a fence built before they were born. Under “our democracy” they would have gone to jail for ten years leaving their children without their parents. Under our constitutional, representative republic, the charges were dropped.

Such is the tyranny of Donald Trump who ordered his Administration to protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans. “Our Democracy,” like all would-be tyrants, wants to disarm all Americans. Trump, the dictator, wants American’s Second Amendment rights protected.

The issue in this case is Illinois’ violation of the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision by banning “assault weapons,” primarily AR-15s, the most popular rifle in America, and “high capacity” magazines—actually, standard capacity magazines.  Thus are Illinois’ Democrat rulers part of “our democracy” rather than America’s representative republic.

Keep reading

Trump DOJ Files Amicus Brief Supporting Challenge to Illinois ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

On June 13, 2025, the Civil Rights Division of President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice announced the filing of an amicus brief supporting an NRA lawsuit against Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban.

The brief was announced by Assistant Attorney General for DOJ’s Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon. In a post to X, Dhillon noted, “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right. See you in court, Illinois.”

The amicus brief’s introduction points to Bruen (2022) and says in part:

Three years ago, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision meant to break a habit developed by some States of treating the Second Amendment as “a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other” constitutional rights. …[Bruen] (2022).

Regrettably, not every State got the message. Just a few months after Bruen, Illinois outlawed some of the most commonly used rifles and magazines in America via a so-called “assault weapons” ban. In doing so,  Illinois violated the Supreme Court’s clear directive that States cannot prohibit arms that are “in common use” by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. …[Heller] (2008).

Keep reading

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker Announces Punitive Actions Against El Salvador in Defense of Deported MS-13 Illegal Alien – “The State of Illinois will Stand Up for the Rule of Law”

Sanctuary State Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois has directed state agencies to take actions against the country of El Salvador in hopes of influencing the release of Kilmar Garcia Abrego, a deported MS-13 terrorist who was living illegally in Maryland.

“The United States Constitution guarantees due process. We are witnessing Donald Trump erode our fundamental Constitutional rights in real time, and we must fight to restore the balance of power,” he reportedly said. “The State of Illinois will stand up for the Rule of Law and do everything in our power [to] stop the Trump Administration from ripping apart our most basic rights.”

The Gateway Pundit has reported extensively on the controversy over Garcia Abrego’s deportation and far-left politicians’ attempts to smuggle him back into the United States.

The MS-13 member was deported and returned to his home country by the Trump Administration over his ties to MS-13, which President Trump has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

However, the Democrats and leftist media describe the El Salvadoran illegal and gangster as a “Maryland man” and “father of three,” who was wrongfully deported after a judge previously protected him from deportation when he was arrested in 2019, citing alleged safety concerns if he returned to his home country.

The order blocking his deportation was granted before President Trump designated him as a foreign terrorist, making him “no longer eligible for any form of immigration relief in the United States,” says White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

When he was arrested in 2019, he was with two other members of MS-13, and he was known by investigators to be affiliated with the gang, but the judge still allowed him to stay in the country illegally. He was further detained in December 2022 and accused of engaging in human trafficking by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officer. Still, the FBI ordered his release.

Additionally, as The Gateway Pundit reported, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, previously petitioned the court for two different protective orders against Garcia for domestic violence. According to a 2021 order of protection, Garcia Abrego punched Vasquez, ripped off her shirt, grabbed, and bruised her.

This hasn’t stopped radical Democrats from glorifying him and attempting to rescue him from El Salvador’s CECOT prison.

Inspired by Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador earlier this month, where he met and shared margaritas with Garcia Abrego, several House Members traveled to El Salvador to demand his release. Reps. Robert Garcia (CA), Maxwell Frost (FL), Yassamin Ansari (AZ), and Maxine Dexter (OR) traveled to El Salvador on Monday to try to facilitate the release of Abrego Garcia, but they were promptly denied.

Keep reading

DOJ accuses IL officials of having kept noncitizen from ICE accused of murder after jail release

One of several examples the U.S. Department of Justice gave of how federal officials have been obstructed by Illinois’ migrant sanctuary policies involves an illegal alien released from jail later being accused of murder.

“In January 2025, federal officials issued a detainer request for an alien who was being held in Cook County jail on sexual assault of a minor charges,” the DOJ said. “Pursuant to Cook County’s restrictions, law enforcement officers did not respond to the detainer request … Following the alien’s release from local jail, he was arrested and charged with homicide just 17 days later.”

The filing in federal court comes as the state of Illinois, Cook County and the city of Chicago are asking the judge in the case to hold off on tackling migrant sanctuary policies that the DOJ says obstructs federal agents from doing their job.

In a statement of material facts for its motion for summary judgment against the state’s migrant sanctuary laws, the U.S. Department of Justice last week said the federal government has exclusive authority over immigration laws and enforcement and President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency at the border.

“Congress recently expanded the list of crimes that can trigger mandatory detention requirements to include burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, or assault of a law enforcement officer, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person,” the DOJ said in its filing for summary judgment. “Defendants’ sanctuary policies cause significant harm to federal immigration enforcement and public safety by not honoring immigration detention orders, or helping facilitate access to detainees in local custody.”

Keep reading