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US sues Illinois and Chicago for impeding Trump immigration crackdown
The new top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts on Feb. 5 vowed to investigate local officials if they obstruct the administration's ramped up immigration arrests, saying "no one gets a pass."
FILE PHOTO: A bus transporting migrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prepares to drive away from the ICE Broadview Service Staging Area in Broadview, Illinois, U.S. January 31, 2025. / REUTERS/Vincent Alban/File Photo
The U.S. Justice Department sued the state of Illinois and city of Chicago on Feb. 5, accusing the Democratic strongholds of unlawfully interfering with Republican President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and seeking a court order blocking so-called sanctuary laws.
Citing a national emergency regarding illegal immigration that Trump declared on his first day back in office on Jan. 20, the department in the lawsuit sought to block several Illinois and Chicago laws that "interfere with and discriminate against" his immigration policies.
The lawsuit said sanctuary laws such as the Illinois TRUST Act, which prevents state and local law enforcement from assisting federal civil immigration enforcement, violate the U.S. Constitution's "supremacy clause" that states that federal law preempts state and local laws that may conflict with it.
"Illinois will defend our laws that prioritize police resources for fighting crime while enabling state law enforcement to assist with arresting violent criminals," Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement.
Pritzker said the law was signed by a Republican governor and complies with federal law.
The lawsuit was filed in Chicago federal court against the state and the governor, the city of Chicago and its mayor and police superintendent, as well as Cook County, which includes Chicago, its commissioners and its sheriff.
Supporters of sanctuary laws have said that local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement would discourage immigrants who are living in the country illegally from coming forward as victims or witnesses to crimes.
The office of Chicago's mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has pledged to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally, many of whom live in jurisdictions with sanctuary laws. His administration has asked local law enforcement to join the federal immigration crackdown as a "force multiplier" and warned officials who resist that effort that they could face criminal charges.
Newly installed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo on Feb. 5 that said the Justice Department should take actions against jurisdictions that impede immigration enforcement.
The new top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts on Feb. 5 vowed to investigate local officials if they obstruct the administration's ramped up immigration arrests, saying "no one gets a pass."
The U.S. House if Representatives Oversight Committee's Republican chairman said last month his panel would investigate sanctuary policies. The mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York, cities with significant immigration populations, are due to appear at a committee hearing next month.
Several states including California have measures that restrict compliance with requests from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to hold suspects beyond their release date so federal agents can take them into custody or to limit access of the agency to jails.
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