Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker posted a video on X saying that if President Donald Trump “comes for my people, he has to go through me,” and that immigrants make Illinois stronger. According to the post, he would keep fighting to keep communities in the state safe. The clip appears to show Pritzker speaking alongside rally and street footage tied to federal immigration enforcement. Online users reacted to the wording of “my people,” with many replies arguing that his duty is to the state’s legal citizens.
The clip is a montage, not one continuous scene. It opens with Pritzker outdoors saying, “There’s one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump: If you come for my people, you have to come through me, so come and get me,” then cuts to shop owners and street footage.
Mike Moreno, identified on screen as the owner of Osito’s Tap, says he was glad when the governor made that statement and that Illinois needs “this kind of governor,” someone willing to put himself “at the front line,” listen, and “voice the opinions” of people across the state, not only “the rest of us.”
Marco Rodriguez, labeled senior vice president of Dulcelandia, says some have “bent the knee down to this administration” and that “It was something that was traumatizing for us.”
Jorge Herrera, identified as the owner of OK Corral Western Wear, says of Pritzker, “it’s because he’s with us.” Other lines in the video include “fight for immigrants and immigrant rights” and “that we have a governor.” In the same montage, a speaker adds that the problem “is not only affecting Latinos” but “minorities as a whole.”
The video does not show the events that the headline refers to, and it does not show what happened before or after each clip. Separate local coverage this week has described Pritzker speaking in Chicago’s Little Village about the year since that federal operation, saying, “Illinois remembers what happened.”
How Viewers Are Responding to the Video
Some of the people featured in the clip itself praised Pritzker for standing with them and for speaking when, they said, others had “bent the knee.”
On a related earlier post using the same “come through me” line, some users wrote “Proud of my Gov!” and “Here in the Land of Lincoln, we stand united against tyranny.”
Many replies to Thursday’s post took the opposite view. One of the most-liked comments said, “They’re not ‘your people’ if they’re here illegally. Your people are the legal citizens of this state.”
Another wrote, “Calling criminal aliens ‘immigrants’ is a big fat middle finger to every U.S. citizen.”
A further commenter argued, “The U.S. Constitution dictates that immigration is handled by the Federal Government. This is nothing short of sedition.”
Others focused on who they believed Pritzker meant, with one saying, “When Pritzker said ‘my people, ’ what he meant was illegal aliens, not American citizens.”
The clip now sits inside a longer argument over whom Illinois officials are meant to protect. For now, that debate continues online, with supporters treating Pritzker’s line as a defense of communities and critics insisting his first duty is to the state’s legal residents.
