Prairie State Wire

Jeanne Ives, founder of Breakthrough Ideas, said that Illinois sanctuary policies enabled a deadly crash involving an undocumented immigrant and called for Democratic leaders to be held accountable. The statement was made on X.

"This happened in Illinois," said Jeanne M Ives, State Representative. "The illegal was protected by the SAFE-T Act and Sanctuary state laws. How many more American citizens must die before Democrats are held accountable for their mindless stupid policies."

In August 2025, Darcy Connolly-Brunner, the mother of former WNBA player Sophie Brunner, was killed in a head-on crash in Freeport, Illinois. The incident involved Rolando Ico-Choc, an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant with prior DUI and battery convictions. According to the New York Post, Ico-Choc remained in Illinois under the state’s TRUST Act and SAFE-T Act policies. These laws have drawn criticism from lawmakers who argue they prevented local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Illinois State Senator Jil Tracy reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data shows 662,000 non-citizens currently in the U.S. have either criminal convictions (435,000) or pending charges (226,000). Tracy and other lawmakers have cited these figures in calls to reexamine Illinois’s sanctuary laws and data-sharing restrictions under the TRUST Act.

According to Wikipedia and Breakthrough Ideas, Jeanne Ives is a former Illinois state representative (2013–2019), West Point graduate, and U.S. Army veteran. She is the founder of Breakthrough Ideas, a conservative nonprofit focused on limited government, parental rights, and fiscal responsibility. Ives remains a prominent voice in Illinois politics.

As described on its official website, Breakthrough Ideas is an Illinois-based policy advocacy organization founded by Ives. It promotes conservative values through media content, legislative briefings, and grassroots mobilization. The group focuses on tax policy, education, public safety, and civic literacy while aiming to counter progressive narratives in state governance.