CHICAGO — Republican candidate for Illinois governor Darren Bailey criticized Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson for their sanctuary city policies following last week's shooting death of Loyola student Sheridan Gorman. A Venezuelan migrant who entered the U.S. illegally allegedly shot and killed Gorman on a pier on Lake Michigan.

Bailey called for the repeal of the TRUST Act, Illinois's sanctuary law, and the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail in favor of pretrial detention hearings for defendants. Bailey said that Pritzker's sanctuary policies prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement actions and have led to conditions that raise safety concerns for Illinois residents.

"As Illinois governor, he can be keeping our state safe through the very mechanisms at his fingertips. Letting violent criminals in this state, there is no excuse for that," Bailey said. "J.B. Pritzker needs to focus and allow state and local law enforcement to do their job and find these violent criminals and get them out."

Governor Pritzker defended the state's approach to immigration enforcement. "It is the job of the federal government to go after immigration enforcement," Pritzker said. "While I agree there have been real failures, those failures of course extend beyond the borders of Illinois. They're national failures. A failure to have comprehensive immigration reform."

Bailey and other Republicans have contested Chicago police data showing homicides are at a 60-year low. Mayor Johnson addressed public safety concerns in response to the criticism. "Community safety is still my top priority, and my focus is going to be doubling down on the efforts that have proven to be strong strategies," Johnson said.