Illinois argues federal government can’t force immigration enforcement on states – Washington Examiner
The State of Illinois is currently contesting a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration that targets it’s sanctuary policies, which limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Illinois attorneys argue that the federal goverment cannot compel the state to engage in immigration enforcement protocols that are contrary to its own laws, emphasizing Illinois’s constitutional right to enforce its own immigration regulations and to opt-out of federal mandates.
The legal contention specifically challenges the state’s TRUST Act, which restricts local law enforcement from honoring certain federal immigration detainers. The lawsuit is part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration aimed at blue states and cities that have adopted similar sanctuary policies designed to protect undocumented immigrants from federal deportation efforts.
Illinois’s legal representatives invoked the 10th Amendment, asserting the state’s sovereign right to decide its participation in federal immigration schemes. They cited precedents where higher courts have previously upheld the rights of states to establish their own immigration frameworks. The ongoing litigation continues to fuel tensions around immigration policy between state and federal jurisdictions.
Illinois argues federal government can’t force immigration enforcement on states
Illinois attorneys pushed back Tuesday on a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice targeting the state’s so-called sanctuary policies, arguing that the Trump administration cannot force the state to participate in federal immigration enforcement.
The attorneys, writing on behalf of Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) and the state of Illinois, asked a judge to dismiss the case. They said the DOJ failed to state any federal violations and that Illinois had a constitutional right to enforce its own immigration laws and “opt out” of enforcing federal ones.
“Yes, Illinois’s choice may ‘frustrate’ implementation of ‘[f]ederal schemes,’ like the current federal executive’s avowed commitment to conduct the largest mass deportation in American history,” the Illinois attorneys wrote.
However, they argued, the 10th Amendment protects Illinois’s “sovereign right not to cooperate in the President’s schemes.”
The lawsuit is one of two brought by the Trump administration this year against blue states and cities and their leaders, who have implemented sanctuary policies that work, in part, to shield illegal immigrants from the federal government. Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a similar complaint in New York.
In Illinois, the DOJ targeted the state’s TRUST Act, which prohibits state and local law enforcement officials’ abilities to honor certain federal immigration detainers or otherwise cooperate with federal immigration officials. At issue in the New York case is the state’s “Green Light Law,” which prevents the Department of Motor Vehicles from sharing information it gathers about noncitizens with federal law enforcement.
The legal battles are reigniting fights involving immigration and sanctuary jurisdictions from both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration.
Illinois’s attorneys pointed to a decision in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting the first Trump administration’s attempts to block California from carrying out its sanctuary policies. The case did not make it to the Supreme Court before President Donald Trump left office.
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“There has been no intervening change in federal law that disturbs Illinois’s sovereign choice,” the Illinois attorneys said Tuesday.
By contrast, the Biden administration, which became defined early on by lax border control policies, sued Texas for attempting to take matters into its own hands by installing massive buoy barriers in the Rio Grande and razor-wire fencing. Another lawsuit by the Biden DOJ attempted to block Texas state troopers from stopping and turning away vehicles at the border that were carrying migrants over COVID-19.
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