Trump Admin Sues Chicago, State Of Illinois Over Illegal Alien Sanctuary Laws

The Trump administration reportedly filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the city of Chicago, Cook County, and the state of Illinois over their sanctuary laws that shield illegal aliens from deportation, arguing that they interfere with federal law enforcement’s operations.

The lawsuit argues that the jurisdictions have adopted policies that inhibit the federal government’s ability to enforce federal immigration law.

“We’ve identified Illinois, the city of Chicago and Cook County as all having laws and ordinances on the books that impede federal immigration enforcement, in particular the Chicago Welcoming ordinance, the Illinois Trust Act,” one unnamed Department of Justice official told the New York Post.

President Donald Trump’s newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi explained the significance of the suit and accused the municipal, county, and state governments of prioritizing illegal aliens over Americans.

“For too long, leaders in Illinois and Chicago have abused their power by putting the comfort of illegal aliens over the safety and welfare of their own citizens. This ends today,” she said. “The Department of Justice will no longer stand by as state and local leaders obstruct federal law enforcement efforts, endangering their citizens and the brave men and women in uniform.”

One of the laws targeted by the suit, the Illinois Trust Act, which was signed into law in 2017, states: “State law does not currently grant State or local law enforcement the authority to enforce federal civil immigration laws.”

There’s also Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which prohibits city officials from detaining people on the basis of their status as illegal aliens. “No agency or agent shall: arrest, detain or continue to detain a person solely on the belief that the person is not present legally in the United States,” reads the ordinance.

The suit specified how these policies interfere with federal law enforcement agent’s ability to enforce immigration law, noting that the jurisdictions “refuse to cooperate with detainers” lodged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “So instead of handing over people who are in prison or in jail to federal immigration authorities they will just let folks go,” the lawsuit states.

“This lawsuit will put the spotlight on obstruction by state and local officials and their refusal to support the administration and compliance with the law. The law says people who are here illegally are not allowed to stay here, they should be deported. So we want to make sure those impediments are taken away,” a DOJ official told the Post.

“These states and localities advertise themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions. They are inviting people here who are illegal, and they’re promising to protect them from federal law enforcement,” the official went on to say, noting that the case could go all the way to the Supreme Court.

The DOJ official charged that the laws currently “need to be struck from the books because they’re incentivizing illegal immigration into the country.”

The suit comes just one day after AG Bondi was sworn into office. Bondi addressed sanctuary cities in her day one directives, ordering the federal government to halt funding to sanctuary cities.

“She is right out of the gate sending a clear message to other sanctuary jurisdictions,” another unnamed DOJ official said.