A federal judge in Chicago on Friday blocked the Trump administration\u2019s challenge to policies in the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and Cook County that limit the powers of state and local police in assisting federal law enforcement on immigration-related matters.<\/p>\n
The ruling comes as the Trump administration has ramped up mass deportation efforts targeting noncitizens living in the U.S. without legal permission, particularly in big cities that have sanctuary laws like Chicago, where activities from federal immigration agents have been met with protests.<\/p>\n
In her ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety, saying the U.S. Department of Justice lacked standing, though she allowed the department to amend its complaint. The case centered around the 10th Amendment, which addresses state and federal powers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sanctuary Policies reflect Defendants\u2019 decision to not participate in enforcing civil immigration law\u2014a decision protected by the Tenth Amendment and not preempted by (the federal Immigration and Nationality Act),\u201d Jenkins wrote. \u201cFinding that these same Policy provisions constitute discrimination or impermissible regulation would provide an end-run around the Tenth Amendment. It would allow the federal government to commandeer States under the guise of intergovernmental immunity\u2014the exact type of direct regulation of states barred by the Tenth Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Among the arguments made by the Justice Department when it filed its lawsuit earlier this year was that the sanctuary policies violated the U.S. Constitution\u2019s supremacy clause, which the department argued \u201cprohibits Illinois, Chicago, Cook County, and their officials from obstructing the Federal Government\u2019s ability to enforce laws that Congress has enacted or to take actions entrusted to it by the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawsuit specifically went after the state\u2019s 2017 Trust Act, signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker\u2019s predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The law generally prohibits state and local law enforcement from getting involved in deportation efforts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal policing agencies dealing with immigration matters. While the Trust Act prevents state and local law enforcement from assisting the federal government with regular immigration enforcement, it allows coordination when there is a federal criminal warrant involved.<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s sanctuary city ordinance bans official cooperation between local law enforcement and federal deportation authorities, while ensuring immigrants living without legal permission can use city services. The lawsuit also takes on a Cook County statute that bans ICE agents from the county jail and other facilities unless they have a criminal warrant unrelated to immigration.<\/p>\n
Chicago\u2019s sanctuary designation has existed since Mayor Harold Washington signed an executive order in 1985, but it was adjusted after Trump took office the first time in 2017. Now, the intent is to make sure immigrants in the country without legal permission can still report crime without fearing deportation, while depriving the feds of a key resource \u2014 local police.<\/p>\n
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Pritzker this year have testified separately before President Donald Trump\u2019s Republican allies in Congress to defend their sanctuary policies. The Democratic governor\u2019s visit to Washington happened last month when he defended the policies before a House committee while pointing at congressional Republicans and Democrats for using the issue to try to score political points rather than enacting comprehensive immigration reform.<\/p>\n
![\"Masked](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-ICE-detention-protest-83.jpg\")
Masked federal agents walk past a Chicago police officer standing in the alley behind the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office, ISAP, run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in the South Loop on June 4, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
On Friday, Pritzker praised the ruling, saying it showed Illinois has \u201calways been and still is compliant with federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIllinois ensures law enforcement time and energy is spent fighting crime \u2014 not carrying out the Trump Administration\u2019s unlawful policies or troubling tactics,\u201d Pritzker spokesman Matt Hill said in a statement. \u201cAs the great-grandchild of Ukrainian refugees, the Governor\u2019s personal story shows how immigration is central to America\u2019s story, economy, & culture. He told it to Congress when he laid out how Illinois follows the law and would like the feds to follow suit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois also applauded the ruling, saying the court \u201cwas correct to reject the Trump Administration\u2019s lawsuit and to allow public officials in Illinois and Chicago to follow our policies that prioritize local public safety and welfare over federal civil immigration enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge in Chicago on Friday blocked the Trump administration\u2019s challenge to policies in the state of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":97349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,409,1370,50,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-97348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114926581549643538","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}