The Justice Department sued the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and other local jurisdictions alleging their laws are standing in the way of the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement in the area, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.
In the Trump administration’s first legal bid to stave off local efforts to impede immigration operations, federal officials are asking a judge to bar the Illinois, Chicago, Cook County and the Cook County Sheriff from using local laws that protect migrants to hamper law enforcement.
The Justice Department said certain state and local provisions are “designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law” and accused local officials of working to obstruct federal efforts to curb illegal migration, allegations state officials dispute.
According to the complaint, more than 13,000 undocumented migrants were arrested by immigration officials in Illinois between 2016 and 2025.
“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 lawsuit alleged.
The Justice Department urged the court to step in, arguing state and local laws in Illinois and Chicago prohibit the sharing of certain information with federal authorities and make apprehension of undocumented migrants in those jurisdictions more difficult.
In a statement, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office pushed back on the lawsuit, defended state law and said they would fight in court.
“The bipartisan Illinois TRUST Act, signed into law by a Republican governor, has always been compliant with federal law and still is today. Illinois will defend our laws that prioritize police resources for fighting crime while enabling state law enforcement to assist with arresting violent criminals,” the statement said in part.
CBS News has reached out to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, the Cook County board of commissioners and the Cook County sheriff for a response to the newly-filed lawsuit.
At a recent press conference, Pritzker said, “We’ve passed laws in Illinois to protect people and we’ll continue to focus on taking action where they’re most threatened.”
The legal challenge comes just one day after Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the Justice Department to halt funding to jurisdictions that “unlawfully interfere with federal law enforcement operations” and encouraged federal prosecutors across the country to pursue states that do not comply with the federal government’s immigration efforts.
Bondi — sworn in as the nation’s top law enforcement officer that same day— wrote in a memo, “State and local actors may not impede, obstruct, or otherwise fail to comply with lawful immigration-related directives.”
Last month, Justice Department leadership directed prosecutors and law enforcement across the country to focus on enacting President Trump’s immigration policies and said they should potentially charge state or local officials who impede their efforts.
“The Supremacy Clause and other authorities require state and local actors to comply with the Executive Branch’s immigration enforcement initiatives. Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove wrote in a January memo obtained by CBS News.
Bove and other Trump administration officials later traveled to Chicago to partake in immigration enforcement operations across the city.
Robert Legare is a CBS News multiplatform reporter and producer covering the Justice Department, federal courts and investigations. He was previously an associate producer for the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.”
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