A federal judge has thrown out the Trump administration’s bid to force Illinois and Chicago to aid its mass deportation agenda, saying it would encroach on autonomy guaranteed to states under the Constitution.
U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins concluded that the lawsuit — the first filed by the administration this year trying to upend so-called “sanctuary policies” in states and cities — was an “end-run around the Tenth Amendment,” which protects states from federal government overreach.
In a 64-page ruling Friday, the Biden-appointed judge said federal laws “permit” states to cooperate with the federal government on immigration enforcement, but do not require it. Therefore, states can’t be forced to partner with federal efforts, she said, citing a series of Supreme Court rulings that block the federal government from “commandeering” state or local officials to perform federal duties.
The ruling is a setback for Trump, the first defeat in a series of similar lawsuits the Justice Department filed against states and cities that have adopted sanctuary policies that limit their employees’ cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Other suits have been filed against cities in California, New Jersey and New York.
Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
An Illinois state law passed in 2021 and related policies prohibit local and state officials from sharing any person’s custody status, release date, or contact information with federal immigration officials.
The Justice Department argued those measures were preempted by federal law, but Jenkins rejected that argument as well as the Trump administration’s claims that the state law unconstitutionally discriminated against the federal government. She also said the administration’s effort to coerce the state to carry out federal immigration policy could impose impermissible costs on the states.
The judge also found that the Justice Department had no legal basis for naming Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as a defendant in the suit and said DOJ lawyers “openly” conceded as much. She ordered him dismissed from the case.
A similar suit the Justice Department filed against California in 2018 led to a federal appeals court ruling rebuffing the administration’s request to block that state’s legal restrictions on information sharing.
Related disputes about DOJ’s efforts to cut off federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions were pending at the Supreme Court when Biden appointees took over in 2021. The high court dismissed the petitions at the Biden administration’s request, without deciding whether state and local governments can be forced to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.