Laurie Parman, Republican candidate for Illinois House of Representatives District 66, said Democratic officials blocking federal immigration enforcement near polling places are putting on a performance designed to distract from real election integrity concerns while hiding behind a chain of command they have no authority to override.
“When an election official steps out of their very small role and shakes a very small fist at the very giant federal government, certain thoughts occur to me,” Parman told the Kane County Reporter.
Parman said the breakdown in accountability and respect for authority is at the root of the problem.
“We have completely lost our ability to understand the chain of command,” she said. “No one is accountable to their superiors anymore. Puffed up, self-important, tiny bit players have stepped out of the job they are being paid to do and decide, ‘I will resist these authorities who are conducting their constitutionally appointed duties.’ That’s deeply selfish insanity. The world is not about you.”
A number of Democrat-controlled states have been moving forward with bills aimed at restricting or prohibiting federal immigration agents from operating near polling locations, pointing to concerns over federal overreach in the electoral process. Federal law already places limits on armed personnel at voting sites, and the Department of Homeland Security has said it has no intention of sending ICE to the polls, according to Stateline.
When pressed before Congress, ICE and Border Patrol leaders answered “No, sir,” when asked about polling place deployments, and DHS election integrity official Heather Honey flatly denied that agents would be present at the polls.
Ahead of the March 17 primary, DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek went on record warning that ICE would have no role in DuPage County elections, declaring in a video saying, “In DuPage County, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will not be allowed to interfere with DuPage County elections in any way.”
She then issued a press release declaring, “ICE, go away. Do not even try. You will fail,” insisting that non-citizens casting ballots on Election Day is nothing more than a myth.
Kaczmarek set up a dedicated hotline for residents to flag ICE activity and highlighted that DuPage County voters can cast ballots at any of 248 locations countywide through its “Vote Anywhere” program.
Parman said the role of federal authorities is straightforward and should not be subject to interference from local officials.
“I believe that federal authorities have a job to do – enforce the laws, keep the streets safe, and protect the citizenry from danger of foreign or domestic nature,” she said.
In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson moved to establish “Democracy Zones” that would bar immigration enforcement within 100 feet of polling locations. Critics, among them 15th Ward Alderman Ray Lopez, said the initiative is one that “seeks an answer to a problem that doesn’t exist” and flagged potential First Amendment issues.
“As much as the extreme Democratic Left and Socialists decried President Trump’s election loss conspiracies, they have proven no better,” Lopez told Chicago City Wire. “Actually, the Democratic logic is worse as it appears to build on the allegations of non-citizens participating in our American electoral process and needing protection from deportation.”
Social media critics questioned the logic of the push.
“If illegals are not voting, then why would anyone care if ICE is near a polling place?” Libs of TikTok said on X.
Parman said a recent encounter with a local official confirmed her suspicion that the entire effort is performance rather than policy.
“States do not have authority over Immigration enforcement, and they know it!” she said. “I recently confronted an official about the town’s refusal to let ICE into their municipal buildings. That Carpentersville Official replied, ‘It doesn’t matter if we restrict ICE from our public buildings – it’s a moot point because they can come in anyway.’ So basically he was telling me it’s all a big show!”
Speaking as an election judge herself, Parman said the theatrical resistance to ICE is covering up something far more serious at the polls.
“As an election judge, I can say, it is one great big dog and pony show constructed to distract from the very real presence of illegal people trying to vote who cannot even read the ballot,” she said. “Illegals are voting in various ways. If the cat gets out of the bag, it’s all over for the cheaters.”
Parman said the issue ultimately comes down to who has the legal right to participate in American elections.
“Only legal citizens of this country should be voting in our elections, not nice aliens who have lived peaceably under the radar for decades, and not bused in groups of coached illegals,” she said. “They don’t get to decide; Citizens get to decide, only citizens. Democrats are running out of cover for their initiatives to get votes from illegal places, and the suggestion that there might be disruption at the polls might be enough to keep some people away. That’s very crafty, but it is not illegal. I’m concerned about the illegalities involved in our voting structures.”
In DuPage County, former GOP committeeman Terry Newsome nearly missed his chance to vote after discovering that all five members of his household had been entered into the voter database under the incorrect last name “Updatesome” rather than Newsome.
Parman said voter roll errors must be taken seriously but approached with measured judgment.
“Errors happen,” she said. “As an election judge, I’ve seen them happen innocently; an inverted number, a typo. It’s not illegal until somebody shows me the research and the pattern, and then they’d better look out. That said, we cannot overreact to the innocent things – we need to keep our eyes open and energy ready for the real crimes.”
Kaczmarek drew criticism from conservatives well beyond the ICE controversy. Former state representative Jeanne Ives labeled her “completely incompetent,” and election integrity advocate Carol Davis charged that Kaczmarek is “throwing red meat to the Democrat base because she is in jeopardy of losing her seat as county clerk.”
The DuPage County Board voted in 2025 to censure her office for financial mismanagement that included late vendor payments, a budget shortfall, and staff salaries that climbed 40% over five years.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office launched a criminal investigation into her office over allegations that include roughly $229,000 in no-bid contracts and improper handling of election-related funds.
Kaczmarek was defeated in the March 17 Democratic primary by Paula Deacon Garcia, who received 54,761 votes compared to Kaczmarek’s 42,670, based on unofficial results with all precincts reporting.
Garcia will advance to the November general election against Republican Patricia Kladis-Schiappa, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary.
Parman, a Republican, is challenging second-term incumbent State Rep. Suzanne Ness (D-Carpentersville) for the Illinois House of Representatives in District 66.
