FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2025
Contact: Mark@Rice4Congress.com

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — While Illinois Democrats celebrate the signing of HB 1312, candidate for Illinois’ 8^th Congressional District, Mark Rice, warned that the law is a dangerous shift away from public safety, accountability, and the protections afforded to lawful Illinois residents and federal law enforcement.

HB 1312 greatly restricts cooperation between state and local agencies and federal immigration authorities, creates “safe-zones” for undocumented immigrants near courthouses, limits information sharing at hospitals, child-care centers, and universities that forces staff to focus on immigration “rights” over care, and allows individuals to sue law enforcement officers for civil immigration-related arrests even when officers are acting in good faith.

“This bill is not a safeguard; it’s a shield for those who entered our country illegally, and greatly limits the ability of federal officers to protect Illinoisans throughout the state,” said Rice. “I’m not surprised that Governor Pritzker has once again put illegal aliens above the citizens here, given that he has used more than $2.8 billion of our tax money to provide services for illegal aliens since 2022, instead of making life more affordable for citizens already struggling.”

Rice emphasized that HB 1312 exposes communities to unnecessary risk by blocking cooperation between federal and local authorities and by expanding legal protections that make it harder to detain or remove dangerous individuals who are in the country unlawfully.

“Illinois families deserve a government that prioritizes their safety, not policies that turn our state into a sanctuary for illegal immigration at the expense of public security,” Rice said. “Even my dog Milton Friedman can figure out Pritzker must be fired.”