You cannot claim to support the police while supporting the SAFE-T Act
There are few things more cynical in Chicago politics than politicians who wrap themselves in the image of law enforcement while quietly supporting policies that make policing more dangerous and the public less safe.
One of the most glaring examples is State Representative Angelica “Angelita” Guerrero-Cuellar of Illinois’ 22nd District, a creature of the convicted felon Michael Madigan.
If you follow local political theater, you have probably seen the routine. A police funeral. A memorial. A photo opportunity with officers. Carefully crafted statements about “supporting the men and women in blue.” Public sympathy when an officer is killed in the line of duty.
But talk is cheap. Actions matter.
And when it came time to stand up against the disastrous and ironically-named SAFE-T Act, which makes Illinois anything but safe, and Illinois’ reckless no-cash-bail regime, Angelita is far from angelic — she repeatedly failed the test.
She had three years to oppose, reform, or meaningfully amend this dangerous law. Nine bills have been introduced offering her the opportunity. Instead, she sided with criminals instead of police officers and law-abiding citizens she claims to support.
She betrayed the police nine times. Quite a record. Even Peter only denied Christ three times.
That is not support for law enforcement. That is political double-talk. She has the unmitigated gall to make a big show of mourning on-duty deaths while failing to oppose the very law that caused them!
The SAFE-T Act has become one of the most destructive public safety experiments in Illinois history. It has allowed repeat offenders, violent criminals, and habitual felons back onto the streets while awaiting trial. In theory, judges still retain detention authority for certain dangerous offenders. In practice, however, the system has become revolving-door justice.
Electronic monitoring has become a joke. Violent offenders violate the rules repeatedly, disappear, reoffend, and terrorize communities while politicians congratulate themselves for being “progressive.” The sieve-like system loses track of scores of them.
Even prominent Democrats are now acknowledging reality.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza — who is running for mayor of Chicago — recently called for changes to the state’s no-bail law. Speaking to NewsNation, Mendoza pointed directly to repeat violent offenders on electronic monitoring committing additional violent crimes after release.
“We’ve had murder after murder happen from repeat offenders who go on and commit the worst possible crimes, only to find out that they had just been released on electronic monitoring,” Mendoza said.
That is not a so-called “right-wing” talking point. That is an (albeit rare) instance of a Democrat speaking common sense.
Mendoza further argued pretrial release should be reserved for nonviolent offenders because the current system is failing both the public and the police.
The tragic consequences are no longer hypothetical.
How many police officers must die at the hands of murderers who are on the streets because of this abominable act before Angelita speaks up?
Policemen like Officer John Bartholomew. On April 25, Bartholomew was shot and killed inside Swedish Hospital while treating a robbery suspect. The shooter, Alphanso Talley, was a prior violent offender who had been released by a Cook County judge onto electronic monitoring under the SAFE-T ACT’s pretrial rules. At the time of the shooting, Tally had allegedly bypassed his ankle monitor entirely to commit a string of crimes.
This tragedy is what prompted Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O'Neal Burke and Comptroller Mendoza to publicly attack the electronic monitoring system, arguing that violent offenders are slipping through a "broken" pretrial detention sieve.
But not Angelita. She continues to be a profile in cowardice.
These are not isolated stories. They are symptoms of a collapsing criminal justice philosophy that places coddling violent criminals above public safety for fear of “adverse impact”. Pray tell, Angelita, what impact could be more adverse than cop killings and murderers of law-abiding citizens?
And yet Angelita continues trying to have it both ways.
You cannot attend police memorials while supporting policies that put them in their coffins.
You cannot praise the police while empowering the revolving door system that puts them at greater risk every day.
You cannot claim to back law enforcement while refusing to seriously confront the catastrophic failures of the SAFE-T Act.
Constituents the 22nd District deserve a clear answer. Where does Angelita actually stand? Is she on the side of the angels or the devils who prey on our city?
Is she with the law-abiding citizens, police officers, and working-class families who want safe neighborhoods? Or is she with the activist class that insists criminals are the real victims and police are the real problem?
Democratic Socialist anti-police ideologues have made their position crystal clear. They openly advocate reducing policing, weakening enforcement, emptying jails, and treating criminals as victims of “systems” rather than individuals responsible for their actions.
Their worldview is simple: police supposedly do not prevent crime, criminals supposedly should not face meaningful consequences, and society itself is somehow to blame for violent behavior. It is a fantasy ideology divorced from human nature and basic morality, and ordinary Chicagoans are paying the price.
Does Angelita stand with DSA or the citizens and police officers of our city? Voters deserve to know.
The people suffering most are the working-class families in Angelita’s district and throughout Chicago and Illinois. It is senior citizens afraid to use public transit. It is store owners dealing with repeat theft. It is parents worried about gang violence. And yes, it is police officers being forced to patrol streets where violent offenders cycle endlessly through a broken system, officers losing their lives to repeat offenders who should be in jail, not on the streets. It is their families who are left with nothing but grief and the knowledge these tragedies didn’t need to happen if cowardly legislators like Angelita dared to stand up to the DSA crazies, to rise above the fatal identity politics that plague us.
Even many Democrats of color, like Mendoza, now recognize the danger. The question is whether Angelita will continue talking out of both sides of her mouth — offering symbolic support for police officers while supporting policies that make their jobs more deadly — or whether she will finally take a real stand for public safety. Because voters are tired of political theater, tired of the hypocrisy, tired of the double talk, and the people of Illinois deserve to know whether their representatives truly support law enforcement — or merely pretend to when the cameras are rolling.
