The Department of Justice placed Chicago, Cook County, and the state of Illinois on its latest “sanctuary jurisdiction list,” with Attorney General Pam Bondi promising to “continue bringing litigation” against places the department says stand in the way of federal immigration enforcement.
Bondi said in a statement Tuesday that she would “work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country,” but did not threaten any specific actions beyond what the federal government is already doing.
Illinois is among a dozen states, Cook is one of four counties, and Chicago is one of 18 cities on the list. It’s the latest federal target on the area following months of local ICE raids, the feds’ failed lawsuit challenging local sanctuary policies, and President Donald Trump’s continuing criticism of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker. Both Johnson and Pritzker have also defended the policies in hourslong testimony before Congress earlier this year.
The mayor’s office and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office both said they had not received any additional communication from the DOJ about the city’s and county’s placement on the list.
“Chicago’s Welcoming City policies were first put in place more than 40 years ago by our city’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington,” Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza said in an emailed statement. “We will continue to fight for the dignity of our immigrant, migrant, and refugee communities and stand up for the rights of all Chicagoans against any federal overreach. Our city is safer when police officers can focus on driving down crime and violence and holding offenders accountable, rather than civil immigration enforcement.”
Andres Correa, a spokesman for Pritzker, said in an email the DOJ’s latest actions were simply a pressure tactic.
“Illinois’ bipartisan TRUST Act is, and always has been, fully compliant with federal law, a fact that was affirmed in federal court just last month,” Correa said in a statement. “Our laws ensure that law enforcement focuses on fighting crime, not enforcing the Trump administration’s unlawful policies or politically motivated tactics.”
A federal judge in Chicago late last month blocked the Trump administration’s challenge of local sanctuary policies, such as the Trust Act, the city’s sanctuary ordinance and the county statute banning ICE agents from the Cook County Jail unless they had a criminal warrant unrelated to immigration.
Local jurisdictions’ choice to not participate in enforcing civil immigration law is protected by the 10th Amendment, U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins wrote. Granting an end-run around that amendment “would allow the federal government to commandeer States under the guise of intergovernmental immunity — the exact type of direct regulation of states barred by the Tenth Amendment.”
More Top Picks Best Sunglasses With Clearest View
The DOJ’s list is the second one of its kind to be published. The first, released two months ago on DHS’ website, contained hundreds of jurisdictions and was riddled with typos. It spurred pushback from officials who said it was not clear why they were included. The errors included jurisdictions that overwhelmingly voted for Trump and at least one that had declared itself a “non-sanctuary city.”
The issues were never fully explained, and, within days, the list was replaced with a “Page Not Found” error message.
The DOJ noted Louisville had been removed from the list soon after it agreed to honor DHS requests to hold inmates on immigration detainers for up to 48 hours.
Given the potential loss of federal funding or increased ICE raids, the “stakes are too high,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said of the move to drop its 2017 policy against such detainers, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. Bondi celebrated the change and urged other jurisdictions to do the same.
The Associated Press contributed.