Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Gov. JB Pritzker
CHICAGO - After enacting state laws forbidding local police from cooperating with federal immigration efforts, and after winning a court case blocking President Donald Trump from deploying the National Guard in support of immigration enforcement in the state, Illinois Democrats are now asking federal courts to all but halt the use of federal agents in the state to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, altogether.
On Jan. 12, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, with the support of Gov. JB Pritzker, has joined with the city of Chicago on a lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court, demanding the court rip away the ability to continue federal immigration enforcement actions within the state, because they claim the president and federal agents have acted unlawfully.
The lawsuit essentially seeks court orders that would hamstring the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to carry out immigration raids and patrols within the state, and orders prohibiting U.S. Border Patrol from operating within Illinois and supporting ICE in Illinois at all.
While not announced, the lawsuit appears to be the result of coordination with other Democratic officials in other states, as on the same day, Raoul's counterpart in Minnesota, Democrat state Attorney General Keith Ellison, filed a virtually identical lawsuit in federal court there.
The lawsuits mark a further escalation in the rising civil conflict between the Trump administration and Democrat-led states over Trump's commitment to enforcing the nation's immigration laws.
Democrats, led by governors, including Pritzker and his counterparts in California and Minnesota, have steadfastly opposed all efforts by the federal government to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
Pritzker, for instance, has stated he believes all immigrants, whether in the country legally or not, should be allowed to live in peace, so long as they do not violate criminal laws.
However, Pritzker has also strongly supported Illinois' so-called state sanctuary laws that prohibit police and correctional agencies from cooperating with ICE and Border Patrol in the arrest and deportation of anyone, including violent criminals and those accused or suspected of being members of international drug cartels, terrorist organizations or organized crime.
In the lawsuit, however, Raoul asserts it is Trump and ICE and Border Patrol agents who are the criminals against whom the court must take action.
They assert Trump and the federal immigration enforcement agencies have "unleashed an organized bombardment" on Illinois and Chicago, "causing turmoil and imposing a climate of fear."
They assert the agents have acted "lawlessly" in Illinois and Chicago, allegedly sending "uniformed, military-trained personnel, carrying semi-automatic firearms and military-grade weaponry," who have "unleased sweeping raids and indiscriminate violence against Illinois' residents," while "stopping, interrogating, and arresting residents, and attacking them with chemical weapons," typically tear gas or pepper spray.
Raoul and Illinois Democrats say the actions were not designed to enforce immigration laws, but rather to force Illinois Democrats to end the state's sanctuary policies and to stop defending and shielding illegal immigrants.
In the complaint, Raoul asserts the immigration enforcement actions amount to violations of Illinois' state sovereignty by the federal government.
The lawsuit particularly asserts the Border Patrol has exceeded its legal authority to operate in a non-border state, like Illinois, and has "acted as occupiers rather than officers of the law."
"Under the pretext of enforcing federal immigration law, the federal government is attacking Illinois and Chicago’s ability to carry out their core sovereign functions—to regulate public health, establish and implement a system of education for Illinois residents, defend the state’s economy, provide public safety and administer a judicial system, enforce state statutes, implement state programs, and ensure that Illinois residents receive the full benefits of state and federal law," Raoul wrote in the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Raoul asserts ICE has also violated the law by employing roving patrols and other tactics that Illinois claims trespass limits imposed by federal law, particularly the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
Particularly, Raoul asserts ICE lacks the authority under federal law to "indiscriminately question" people in public, to demand proof of citizenship or legal residency, or to make immigration arrests without a warrant.
The lawsuit also claims ICE has exceeded its authority by using biometric and face-scanning tech to enforce immigration laws within Illinois.
The sweeping lawsuit comes amid an ongoing legal war already launced by immigration enforcement opponents in courts in Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S., as they seek to put an end to the intensifying efforts by the Trump adminsitration to locate, arrest and deport illegal immigrants in the U.S.
Raoul's office was among the states that helped to secure a win at the U.S. Supreme Court, blocking Trump from federalizing and deploying state National Guard soldiers in support of federal immigration enforcement efforts.
But elsewhere, the Supreme Court and federal appeals courts have met with skepticism other legal actions attempting to thwart immigration enforcement actions.
A federal appeals court in Chicago, for instance, rebuked Chicago federal district judge Sara Ellis for overreaching and trampling the separation of powers, by essentially using a lawsuit brought by immigration activists to enter orders that the appellate judges said would amount to micromanaging the actions of "all law enforcement officers in the Executive Branch," including the President himself.
In that ruling, Ellis had attempted to prohibit ICE and Border Patrol from responding with force against "protestors" and activists attempting to interfere with enforcement actions. And she had attempted to force the commander of immigration enforcement actions to directly and regularly report to her on ICE and Border Patrol activities.
The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals blocked those orders, saying they believed the federal government would ultimately triumph in the case.
Rather than risk a full and potentially devastating loss on appeal, the anti-ICE activists have instead sought to dismiss their lawsuit.
Ellis, however, has refused to allow them to do so, to this point, indicating she is still concerned about how federal agents are conducting enforcement operations and signaling she may continue to seek to bring them under some kind of injunction yet again, despite the warnings from the higher court.
Ellis was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama.
At the same time, a different judge, Jeffrey Cummings - an appointee of former President Joe Biden - was also rebuffed by the Seventh Circuit court for attempting to order the release of hundreds of illegal immigrants detained by ICE.
That dispute had centered on a so-called "consent decree" entered into by the pro-immigrant Biden administration, which Cummings had asserted should also bind the Trump administration and block any future presidents from implementing immigration enforcement and detention policies that differed from Biden's.
Now, Raoul and Illinois Democrats are seeking to up the ante further, arguing for court orders that the Trump administration, ICE and Border Patrol should be blocked on constitutional grounds and under federal law from carrying out immigration raids in Illinois at all.
It is not yet known which judge will handle the new case. However, Raoul's office has already filed a motion asking for the case to be handled by Ellis, together with the activists' lawsuit she has refused to dismiss.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Pritzker said: “We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorized our communities and neighborhoods in Illinois, undermining Constitutional rights and threatening public safety.
“In the face of the Trump Administration’s cruelty and intimidation, Illinois is standing up against the attacks on our people. Today, Illinois is once again taking Donald Trump to court to hold his administration accountable for their unlawful tactics, unnecessary escalations, and flagrant abuses of power.”
The Trump administration has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
