In the increasingly heated Illinois Democratic Senate primary, one claim has become a familiar refrain from Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and her allies, that Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) “voted to thank” Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

But the criticisms don’t tell the full story. They refer to a resolution that was principally focused on condemning the firebombing attack on an Israeli hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., last summer, which also included language about immigration enforcement.

“I want to abolish ICE. My opponent voted to thank them,” Stratton has repeated in at least four separate interviews and candidate forums over the past few weeks.

It’s an attack that has also been repeated in an ad campaign against Krishnamoorthi by Illinois Future PAC, a super PAC largely funded by Gov. JB Pritzker and others in his family. “[Krishnamoorthi] even voted to honor ICE,” the ad states. “When Illinois needed a fighter, Raja Krishnamoorthi sold us out.”

The resolution condemned the attack in Boulder and offered prayers for the victims, while also focusing in part on the fact that the accused attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had overstayed his visa and work permit. It urged “free and open communication” between state and federal law enforcement” and “expresse[d] gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland.”

At the time, some Democrats criticized Republicans for the ICE language, seeing it as a deliberate political gambit by Republicans to provide fodder for accusing Democrats of being weak on antisemitism, expecting many to vote against the resolution over the ICE language.

Ultimately, the resolution split Democrats, with 75, largely moderates and pro-Israel members, supporting the legislation and 113 Democrats opposing it.

Krishnamoorthi pushed back on the attacks in a recent debate, responding to Stratton, “That resolution, Lieutenant Governor, you know was about condemning antisemitism, and that’s something that I will always do.”

The Stratton campaign said that the lieutenant governor “will always speak up and condemn antisemitism and would have proudly supported [a separate bipartisan resolution] condemning antisemitism, politically motivated violence, and the terror attack in Boulder that passed in the House the same day. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the second resolution, HRES 488, an ‘unserious effort.’ Expressing gratitude to ICE at a time when Chicago’s immigrant communities were already under attack is a line that Juliana would not cross.”

Stratton did condemn the attack in Boulder at the time.

The resolution came at a particularly tense moment, as ICE was undertaking some of its first major deportation efforts of the Trump administration, in Los Angeles, prompting protests and condemnations from many Democrats.

Both Stratton and the Illinois Future PAC are also hitting Krishnamoorthi over past votes for ICE funding and donations he has received from Palantir, a tech firm that contracts with ICE.

Pritzker, who is Jewish and seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, also recently grabbed attention with comments, through a spokesperson, condemning AIPAC for having “abandoned its bipartisan principles and become a pro-Trump organization.”

The billionaire Pritzker was a onetime AIPAC donor.

Pritzker did not respond to a request for comment. Illinois Future PAC could not be reached for comment.