Illinois Allowed to Refuse Assisting Federal ICE Agents but Cannot Interfere with Enforcement
On July 25th, U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins threw out the Justice Department’s lawsuit which attempted to enforce Illinois into compliance with their requests for immigration enforcement assistance. While the Judge has sided with the state, she hasn’t provided a free pass to act against ICE’s recent measures.
The Court ruled that while federal law allows the states to ignore federal immigration laws, States cannot actively interfere with ICE’s enforcement of immigration policies. Federal laws “offer States the opportunity to assist in civil immigration enforcement”, something Illinois has not done thus far and is unlikely to do moving forward. Many of Illinois’ pro-immigration policies have come in recent years, as Democrats holding majorities in Springfield and Chicago took a stand against the deportation of illegal immigrants. Jenkins said these sanctuary policies are not in violation of federal laws as they “don’t make ICE’s [job] more difficult; they just don’t make it easier”.
While nearly half of the country’s attorney generals agreed that sanctuary policies in Illinois and other states were incentivizing illegal immigration, Jenkins has deemed that immigration enforcement does not fall under the Supremacy Clause as the DOJ argued. The court ruled that the Justice Department’s interpretation of federal immigration law was invalid. Believing that federal law encourages agencies to submit assistance requests but requires from the States only that they do not directly interfere, not that they provide requested assistance. She further went on to argue that she doesn’t believe Congress has the right to pass any laws requiring that the States provide such assistance or cooperation.
Governor Pritzker has previously expressed his supposed shared goal, with President Trump, of removing violent criminals from the country. However, he has continued to implement and enforce policies that prohibit law enforcement agencies within the state from cooperating with federal agents. This has led to illegal immigrants of all statuses being selectively protected by the state, even when police and correctional facility cooperation would allow for speedy removal of those who share the titles of violent criminal and illegal immigrants.
This recent decision by the U.S. District Court has come as a win to both state and local governments in Illinois. Even as lawsuits were continually brought against Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County in recent months regarding their sanctuary policies. As it stands, the Illinois government on all levels will be allowed to continue to prohibit the assisting of and cooperation with ICE agents, by state and local government agents.