(The Center Square) – The state of Illinois is looking to dismiss the case that the U.S. Department of Justice brought against the state over migrant sanctuary policies.
In a legal motion, the state of Illinois said the DOJ’s case is misguided. Among the arguments, the state says federal law does not preempt state laws that prohibit state and local law enforcement from giving resources to federal immigration officials for civil immigration enforcement.
“Consistent with the Tenth Amendment, federal law preserves Illinois’s sovereign right to opt out of assisting federal immigration agents with their civil immigration enforcement responsibilities,” the filing said. “That is what Illinois has done through its statutes, the TRUST Act and the Way Forward Act.”
The filing further said the state’s law is consistent with the nation’s federalist system of dual sovereignty.
“Illinois’s constitutionally protected decision not to provide various forms of assistance to federal immigration agents – detaining or continuing to detain individuals upon request, providing affirmative notice of anticipated release dates, or allowing access to individuals in state or local custody – may result in federal immigration agents expending their own effort to enforce federal immigration law,” the filing said.
Also filing a motion to dismiss are Cook County President Tony Preckwinckle, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said Illinois is on the wrong side of the debate.
“Eighty-one percent of the American public wants these illegals out of the country and yet here comes … [Illinois Attorney General] Kwame Raoul and [Gov.] J.B. Pritzker, who do the exact opposite of what the American people are demanding,” Rose told The Center Square.
At issue in the DOJ lawsuit are two Illinois laws, the TRUST Act and the Way Forward Act. The TRUST Act prohibits local and state law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials for civil detention orders. The Way Forward Act expands on that and prohibits law enforcement from asking about immigration status and discontinues detention agreements between county jails and federal immigration agencies.
Rose said Illinois needs to either help the Trump administration get criminal illegal aliens out of the country or get out of the way.
“And whatever you do, stop telling our local sheriffs that they’re not allowed to talk to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], we’ve already got the person detained in jail and they could just hand them off safely,” Rose said. “Why would you put that bad guy or bad gal back on the streets to hurt someone else?”
The DOJ is scheduled to respond to the motion to dismiss by April 1.
