'We must fight': Il gov moves to divest state from El Salvador for facilitating Trump’s court defiance

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) has requested the state's pension funds and procurement agencies to review their investments or contracts with companies operating in El Salvador. This is an initial move toward potentially boycotting the country for its support of President Donald Trump's noncompliance with court rulings regarding the administration's treatment of migrants.

The governor is directing his state's pension funds, which collectively manage $200 billion in assets, to look into whether they have investments in companies owned by the Salvadoran government or based in El Salvador.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Pritzker explained that his decision was prompted by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s support for Trump in denying due process to hundreds of migrants in the United States who were deported to El Salvador and are currently being held in a notoriously dangerous maximum-security prison.

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“The United States Constitution guarantees due process. We are witnessing Donald Trump erode our fundamental Constitutional rights in real time, and we must fight to restore the balance of power,” Pritzker said.

“The State of Illinois will stand up for the Rule of Law and do everything in our power stop the Trump Administration from ripping apart our most basic rights," he continued.

Pritzker, a wealthy businessman from the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, is considered a potential presidential candidate for 2028.

In a recent interview with Politico, the governor warned Democrats against falling into "the trap that they fell into in 2024 of responding to everything that the Republicans say, given the way they twist things."

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“Republicans keep asking the question, ‘Have you stopped beating your wife?’ There is no good answer to that," he said.