U.S. Justice Dept. Sues Illinois, JB Pritzker, Chicago PD, Cook County Over Sanctuary Policies

Illinois (ECWd) –

Copy of today’s filing in the Northern District of Illinois (HERE).

From the Complaint:

• Upon information and belief, the conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois minimally enforcing—and oftentimes affirmatively thwarting—federal immigration laws over a period of years has resulted in countless criminals being released into Chicago who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States. According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Law Enforcement Statistical Tracking Unit, from Fiscal Year 2016 until 2025, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 13,564 aliens in Illinois, lodging 11,036 detainers. For those arrested, many were charged with serious crimes including assault, larceny, and sexual and drug-related offenses.
• The Illinois Way Forward Act and TRUST Act both impede the Federal Government’s ability to regulate immigration and take enforcement actions against illegal aliens by preventing state law enforcement officials from assisting with federal civil immigration enforcement. Under these laws, state officers are explicitly prohibited from complying with immigration detainers or civil immigration warrants; they are also prevented from entering into agreements to detain noncitizens for federal civil immigration violations. See 5 Ill. Comp. Stat. 805/15.
• The Chicago law, the Welcoming City Ordinance, Chicago Municipal Code ch. 2-173, limits the ability of Chicago law enforcement officers
• The Cook County law, Ordinance 11-O-73, “Policy for Responding to ICE Detainers,” similarly limits the ability of Cook County law enforcement officers to provide the Federal Government with basic information about noncitizens who are in their custody and are subject to federal immigration custody, or to provide federal officers access to such noncitizens to effect their safe transfer to federal immigration custody when presented with a federal administrative warrant.
• The Supremacy Clause prohibits Illinois, Chicago, Cook County, and their officials from obstructing the Federal Government’s ability to enforce laws that Congress has enacted or to take actions entrusted to it by the Constitution.
• The Supremacy Clause also prohibits Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County from singling out the Federal Government for adverse treatment—as the challenged laws do—thereby discriminating against the Federal Government. Accordingly, the provisions challenged here are invalid and should be enjoined.

We urge you to read the complaint in its entirety.