The Department of Justice took legal action against Illinois and the city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing them of obstructing federal immigration enforcement.Â
The lawsuit, which targets Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, claims several state and local laws actively interfere with and discriminate against federal immigration efforts, violating the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, according to Fox News.
The legal action is the latest in a long-running conflict between the Trump administration and Democrat-led cities and states over immigration enforcement, particularly the administration’s mass deportation operations. The lawsuit alleges that illegal immigration presents a national crisis with serious threats to both public safety and national security.
“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 lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims that Illinois and Chicago have enacted laws intentionally designed to obstruct federal immigration enforcement. Specifically, it highlights state and city policies that prevent federal authorities from consulting with local law enforcement or carrying out enforcement actions against illegal immigrants.
Pritzker and Johnson have both publicly stated that they want violent illegal immigrants removed from the country.Â
“When we’re talking about violent criminals who’ve been convicted and who are undocumented, we don’t want them in our state. We want them out of the country,” Pritzker said last month, per Fox News.Â
Johnson also expressed support for deporting undocumented criminals.
“There’s a federal law that clearly states if you are undocumented and you are convicted of a crime, you are subject to deportation. I fully expect the federal government to uphold that law,” he said.
However, the lawsuit asserts that the state and city laws are in direct conflict with federal law, specifically accusing local authorities of knowingly releasing criminals back into the community who should have been deported. It argues that these actions have directly endangered public safety by allowing criminals to remain in the country.
The lawsuit names several pieces of legislation, including the Illinois Way Forward Act, the TRUST Act and Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, as major obstacles to federal immigration enforcement.
Passed in 2017, the Illinois Trust Act restricts local law enforcement’s authority to enforce federal immigration laws, according to the New York Post. The Chicago Welcoming City Ordinance, passed in 2012, similarly prevents local authorities from detaining individuals based solely on their immigration status.
The legal battle follows a directive signed by newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi just a day earlier, which limits funding to sanctuary cities, as Resist the Mainstream covered yesterday. These cities often restrict local law enforcement’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).Â
Supporters of sanctuary laws argue that they encourage illegal immigrants to report crimes and cooperate with police. Critics, however, claim these laws enable deportable criminals to avoid removal, putting the public at risk.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on sanctuary cities, including Chicago, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., has resulted in large-scale raids and hundreds of arrests. Since taking office, the administration has arrested over 6,000 illegal immigrants identified as violent and dangerous.
