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Trump admin sues over 'sanctuary' laws for migrants
The administration's lawsuit against Chicago and the state of Illinois seeks to ban measures preventing police from arresting people based on their immigration status.
File photo. / Reuters
President Donald Trump's administration on Feb.6 sued Chicago, a so-called sanctuary city, arguing that it is illegally blocking efforts to deport undocumented migrants.
The move came as Trump's bid to re-shape immigration and citizenship in the United States hit a legal hurdle, with a judge in Seattle lashing out at his "unconstitutional" attempt to end birthright citizenship through an executive order.
The administration's lawsuit against Chicago and the state of Illinois seeks to ban measures preventing police from arresting people based on their immigration status, and from limiting what information they share with federal authorities.
Los Angeles and New York, which also have large immigrant communities, are among other major cities with similar rules.
Thursday's filing cites Trump's declaration of a national emergency on the southern US border and an executive order he signed asserting that migrants present "significant threats to national security and public safety."
"Further exacerbating this national crisis, some of these aliens find safe havens from federal law enforcement detection in so-called Sanctuary Cities where they live and work among innocent Americans, who may later become their crime victims," the filing states.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that undocumented migrants are disproportionately responsible for crime, despite research showing US citizens commit more offenses per capita.
The lawsuit, filed in an Illinois court, calls for an injunction on the enforcement of the measures on the basis that they violate the supremacy of federal law.
Trump, who has vowed large-scale deportations of illegal migrants, has long promised legal action against sanctuary states and cities, which are largely Democrat-led.
"Sanctuary cities are sanctuary for criminals," Trump's border czar Tom Homan told reporters at the White House.
"We're going to hold sanctuary cities accountable."
A spokesman for the office of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said they "look forward" to challenging the lawsuit in court.
"Unlike Donald Trump, Illinois follows the law," a statement said.
'Rule of law'
In Seattle, a federal judge extended an earlier injunction on an executive order Trump signed during his first week in office that would have overturned the more-than-century old practice of granting citizenship to everyone born on US soil.
US District Judge John Coughenour, hearing a case brought by several states and civil rights groups, said the order was unconstitutional and chided what he said was a lawless executive.
"It has become ever more apparent that to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals," said Coughenour, an appointee of Republican former president Ronald Reagan.
"The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain."
Trump's order attempted to redefine the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which grants citizenship to anyone born in the US, claiming the right does not apply to the children of anyone other than permanent residents and citizens.
Coughenour said the Constitution was clear.
"If the government wants to change the exceptional American grant of birthright citizenship, it needs to amend the Constitution itself," he said.
"That's how our constitution works, and that's how the rule of law works."
Coughenour's ruling came the day after a federal judge in Maryland also issued a nationwide injunction on the executive order.
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