September 30, 2025
Former NFL Player Charles ‘Peanut’ Tillman Explains Why He Left the FBI
The former Chicago Bears cornerback took issue with the Trump administration's immigration policies.
The reason why Charles “Peanut” Tillman recently resigned from his job in the Federal Bureau of Investigation was due to the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The former Chicago Bears cornerback, who left football after the 2015 season, explained his reasoning while on The Pivot podcast.
Tillman had been with the FBI since 2018. The agency, he said, was good to him as were his colleagues, but the way that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has been moving and continues to crack down on immigration since President Donald Trump made this a mandate didn’t sit well with him.
“Let me start by saying this: The FBI was great to me. I did awesome,” Tillman said. “I worked with an amazing group of individuals. I think some of the things that they’re doing now, I personally didn’t agree with…immigration. I didn’t agree with how the administration came in and tried to make individuals do things against their will, it didn’t sit right. An example being immigration, right? Everybody was told, ‘You’re going to go after the most dangerous criminals,’ but what you see on TV and what actually was happening is, people weren’t going after that. Personally, that didn’t sit right with me; that didn’t sit right with my conscience.
“I want to be on the right side of history when it’s all said and done,” Tillman added. “Do I think there are individuals in the organization [who] like doing some of the stuff that they’re doing? Absolutely not. I think they hate it. I was in a different position because of my previous career. I made enough money to where I could just walk away and say, ‘You know what, guys? I’m OK. I think I’m good.'”
Tillman, a two-time Pro-Bowl selection, played in the NFL for 13 seasons.
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