If Attorney General Pam Bondi wants to redirect the Jeffrey Epstein dialogue and take a step toward calming the stormy political waters that engulf her, she should make good on her promises to prosecute the nation’s governors and mayors who have openly defied federal immigration law. When conservatives such as podcaster Megyn Kelly predict that Bondi’s “days are numbered,” attempting to wait out the brouhaha would be an ineffective strategy.
Kelly stated: “So she’s either lazy and incompetent or she willingly humiliated some of the president’s most loyal supporters. Neither one of those is good. And that’s why, I’m sorry, but I’m going to predict her days are numbered as a member of the Trump administration.”
Faith in government has been in decline since the Vietnam War. Now, seven months into the Trump administration, a crisis of trust where it is most needed has exploded at the Justice Department. It’s time for Bondi to deliver on her promise to pursue legal action against sanctuary states and cities.
The Epstein/Bondi story isn’t going away, but neither are governors like California’s Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, Massachusetts’ Maura Healey, or Maine’s Janet Mills, all of whom have made defiant statements that they will not be cowed by federal law, most especially those that pertain to immigration enforcement and Title IX violations.
Opening an investigation into the duplicitous and potentially criminal actions of former CIA director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey is proper. But those cases, compared to legal actions against the sanctuary cities and states, will be tougher to prosecute. Abundant evidence exists that the mayors and governors aided and abetted illegal aliens. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are prime examples of elected officials who knowingly violated 8 U.S. Code § 1324, Bringing in and harboring certain aliens. Since 2022, when the first illegal aliens arrived in Chicago, the city has spent $300 million feeding and sheltering 37,000 unlawfully present foreign nationals. By the end of 2025, Illinois’ tally for spending on illegal aliens will be $2.5 billion. On top of the massive expense, Chicago citizens, especially Black Americans, are frustrated at the spending awarded to illegal aliens while many of their needs remain unaddressed. As one Chicago Sun-Times reporter assessed the effect it has on the Windy City, “Black Chicago is on life support.”
The lawsuit against Chicago is the first the Justice Department has filed since pledging to investigate state and local officials for obstructing President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Bondi followed up with a directive to cut funding to sanctuary cities. Illinois and Chicago “refuse to cooperate with [ICE] detainers,” according to a DOJ official who spoke to the New York Post. “Instead of handing over people who are in prison or in jail to federal immigration authorities, they will just let folks go.”
Pritzker defends Illinois’ policy by citing the 2017 TRUST Act, which asserts, “state law does not currently grant state or local law enforcement the authority to enforce federal civil immigration laws.” Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance is more egregious, prohibiting any city agency or official from detaining “a person solely on the belief that the person is not present legally in the United States.” Neither of these state or municipal laws supersedes the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, an argument DOJ can easily win.
Now is the time for Bondi to step up on her promises that the DOJ will hold sanctuary cities and states accountable for their failure to enforce immigration law. On Feb. 6, Bondi announced that DOJ “will no longer stand by as state and local leaders obstruct federal law enforcement efforts, endangering their citizens and the brave men and women in uniform.” She concluded, “This ends today.”
But “today” was more than five months ago. Nothing would restore the MAGA base’s confidence in Bondi more than seeing the recalcitrant mayors and governors prosecuted, convicted and leaving the courtroom in handcuffs.
Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years.
