The Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against left-wing Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and self-professed “progressive” Mayor Brandon Johnson for “interfering” with federal immigration enforcement.
The suit alleges that Illinois and Chicago officials have initiated laws and rules that are “designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,” Fox News reported.
Gov. Pritzker blasted back after the suit was filed. He said:
Unlike Donald Trump, Illinois follows the law. 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.
Johnson’s office also reiterated, saying, “Local law enforcement will not double as federal agents.”
“There is a clear separation there. That’s the only thing that this ordinance, essentially, lays out. So it’s not a matter of the police department not going after violent criminals,” Johnson said. “While we’re talking about undocumented individuals, do you know how many illegal guns come through Chicago? That’s what the president of the United States of America can help me with.”
The president has declared Joe Biden’s border crisis a national emergency. And the suit added, “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 challenged provisions of Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County law have the purpose and effect of making it more difficult for, and deliberately impeding, federal immigration officers’ ability to carry out their responsibilities in those jurisdictions,” the suit says.
The DOJ lawsuit also insists that the state’s and the city’s sanctuary policies are an intentional effort to “obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe.”
The suit also says that sanctuary rules “intentionally obstruct the sharing of information envisioned by Congress” between state and federal officials. The suit continues:
Upon information and belief, 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 suit also cites state and local rules including the Illinois Way Forward Act, TRUST Act, and Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance.
Trump’s border czar has focused very strongly on Chicago to implement Trump’s deportation and immigration policy and even located some of his first efforts to implement Trump’s promised policies.
Donald Trump’s new Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has also immediately paused federal funding for sanctuary cities.
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