MT. VERNON – The Illinois Sheriff’s Association is pushing back against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s threat to withhold federal funding for areas where local officials refuse to enforce his executive orders.
According to the governor’s emergency rules issued Friday, no area of the state is ready to reopen in May and restaurants are banned from offering dine-in service through June. The orders were imposed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard said the rules are not law, adding when Gov. Pritzker brought this emergency rule into place to allow for a possible misdemeanor to be issued to businesses not following a public health order, he eliminated due process.
Sheriffs in Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Douglas, Ogle, and Hancock counties recently announced they will not use their deputies to enforce Pritzker’s orders.
However, Sheriff Bullard said if a restaurant or non-essential business chose to defy the Governor’s order, they could face ramifications local law enforcement and local government could not protect them from, even with the executive orders not enforced.