WATCH: Illinois sues over public safety tactics around immigration enforcement

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois is suing the Trump administration, alleging the tactics being used to enforce public safety around immigration enforcement are unlawful.

In a five-minute message Monday, Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the Trump administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law on the streets are “hallmarks of a war zone seen on movie screens” and they “have no place in an American city.”

“Much less at a daycare center, courthouses in our neighborhoods or outside our children’s schools,” Raoul said.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said videos from residents around enforcement actions are being “watched in horror.”

“In the face of the Trump Administration’s cruelty and intimidation, Illinois is standing up against the attacks on our people,” Pritzker said in a statement. “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.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said the Trump administration “has repeatedly violated the law and undermined public trust.”

“My administration will forcefully protect our residents’ rights and hold anyone accountable who abuses their power,” Johnson said in a statement. “Nobody is above the law.”

In partnership with Chicago, Illinois’ lawsuit asks the court to require federal agents to have written documentation for the basis of questioning residents about their immigration status, prohibit enforcement near courthouses, schools, hospitals and other sensitive locations, and require all vehicles to have visible and accurate license plates.

“For decades, federal immigration agents have enforced immigration laws in Illinois without significant interruption to public safety,” Raoul said. “Yet since beginning their incursion in September, CBP and Ice agents have killed one resident, shot another, and conducted a military raid on a Chicago apartment building,”

Republicans have been critical of Illinois migrant sanctuary policies, saying the level of enforcement on the streets wouldn’t be necessary if state and local police were allowed to cooperate in handing over non-citizens in local custody to federal immigration officials. Illinois law prohibits that cooperation for civil detention orders.

Illinois filed the lawsuit in federal court Monday alleging reckless deployment of enforcers and unlawful policies. The lawsuit comes as protests continue around the fatal police involved shooting of a woman who drove into a federal officer in Minnesota.

Sunday aboard Air Force One, President Donald Trump said the officers should have immunity.

“I think, frankly, they’re professional agitators,” Trump said. “But I’d like to find out and we are going to find out who’s paying for it. But just with their brand new signs and all the different things.”

Illinois’ lawsuit is against the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and CBP, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Gregory Bovino, chief of U.S. Border Patrol.

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