The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, and several officials, arguing that the immigration policies and sanctuary status of the city and state obstruct federal immigration enforcement.
The complaint contends that by refusing to honor civil detainers and warrants authorized by Congress, Illinois and Chicago have effectively dismantled key mechanisms needed by federal immigration officials to carry out their duties.
“The conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois minimally enforcing—and oftentimes affirmatively thwarting—federal immigration laws over a period of years has resulted in countless criminals being released into Chicago who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States,” the complaint states.
The Trust Act prohibits police from detaining or arresting individuals based on immigration status or federal detainers. The Way Forward Act expands these restrictions by barring local police from cooperating with federal immigration law enforcement, including notifying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or detaining individuals for immigration-related reasons. Chicago’s ordinance—often referred to as a “sanctuary city” law—protects residents from being prosecuted solely for their immigration status and bars police from making arrests on that basis.
The DOJ argues that these laws contradict federal immigration statutes, including the newly signed Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of certain illegal immigrants accused of committing additional crimes inside the country. The Trump administration is seeking to have all three local laws declared invalid.
Citing President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, the lawsuit claims that many people who are in the country illegally pose significant threats to national security and public safety and that sanctuary policies provide them with safe havens.
“Further exacerbating this national crisis, some of these aliens find safe havens from federal law enforcement detection in so-called Sanctuary Cities where they live and work among innocent Americans, who may later become their crime victims,” the complaint states.
According to ICE data cited in the lawsuit, Enforcement and Removal Operations arrested 13,564 illegal immigrants in Illinois, lodging 11,036 detainers, over a roughly 10-year period through 2025.
“For those arrested, many were charged with serious crimes including assault, larceny, and sexual and drug-related offenses,” the complaint states.
The offices of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Immigration advocacy groups have also raised concerns that even individuals with legal status might get swept up in the deportations. While the Trump administration has never stated that it would target anybody legally living in the country, there have been cases of citizens and legal residents mistakenly being arrested.
“We need to get rid of the violent criminals, but we also need to protect people, at least the residents of Illinois and all across the nation, who are just doing what we hope that immigrants will do,” Pritzker said.
