By: Ashmar Mandou

Governor JB Pritzker signed a bill on Friday afternoon that will allow foreign nationals in the state to become police officers, in an effort to address the statewide police shortage amid retention challenges.

HB3751 goes into effect January 1st, 2024 and states that those who “are legally authorized under federal law to work in the United States” or any foreign national who “is an individual against whom immigration action has been deferred by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) process” can apply to become a police officer in the state.  HB3751 goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024. The legislation’s sponsor, state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, a Democrat, said two categories of people can get hired: recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and permanent residents who are on their way to gaining citizenship.

Residents, Hernandez said to the news outlet, have requested their police force be more diverse, and at the same time, some immigrants have shown interest in joining law enforcement by studying criminal justice and other related fields. “They’ve grown with their community, and they know the people,” Hernandez said. “(It opens) doors for them.”

The bill, however, drew criticism from Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, who stated in a tweet last Sunday, “People who are breaking the law by their presence here can now arrest American citizens.” In May, Illinois Republican State Senator Chapin Rose slammed the bill as “a fundamentally bad idea.” Defending the bill, Rep. Hernandez called it a “natural progression” of the 2021 federal decision to allow some undocumented immigrants to work as healthcare workers and military members.

On Monday, during a press conference about reproductive health, Gov. Pritzker addressed the criticism of the bill. “I am tired of the right-wing twisting things,” he said. There are people out there that think we’re just allowing anybody to become a police officer. That’s just not accurate. Undocumented immigrants are not allowed to become police officers in the State of Illinois, still what we have allowed is legal permanent residents and DACA recipients to become police officers.”

In March 2022, Chicago Police Department staffing numbers reached the lowest in recent history, causing the department to loosen its recruitment requirements by waiving the minimum 60 college credits for certain candidates and offering online testing opportunities.  The governor also cited other states, including California that have similar legislation on the books, and pointed out that thousands of legal permanent residents and DACA recipients are already serving in the United States military.