The Trump administration’s legal action against sanctuary policies in Cook County, the City of Chicago, and Illinois has been dismissed by a federal judge who found that the case lacked standing, jurisdiction, and a legal claim.
U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins, a Biden appointment, dismissed the Department of Justice’s February complaint, which alleged that the sanctuary policies violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and impede federal immigration enforcement, in a 64-page ruling released Friday.
According to Judge Jenkins, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) only guides federal officials’ conduct. It subtly admits that a state has little discretion over how it responds to detainers.
Policies that prohibit local authorities from providing information on detained non-citizens or collaborating with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers were at the heart of the Trump administration’s complaint. The administration contended that ICE’s ability to swiftly detain removable persons is almost impossible due to these sanctuary practices.
The court concluded, however, that states are not required by federal immigration law to grant access to prisoners, custody statuses, or contact details, nor to comply with ICE detainer requests.
The judge underlined that while such collaboration between federal and state entities is permitted under the INA, it is not required. In the end, Jenkins stated, the act just expresses Congress’s desire for States to take part in immigration enforcement, just like the other INA provisions reviewed.
The court also determined that the 10th Amendment’s guarantees of state sovereignty are violated by a part of the INA that aims to stop states from limiting communication with federal immigration authorities.
The ruling states’ state sovereignty is incompatible with this restriction on municipal rulemaking. The core of state autonomy is a state’s capacity to manage its officials and workers.
Judge Jenkins made it clear that the federal government cannot force states to cooperate in implementing civil immigration law unless they voluntarily choose to do so, even though the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, allowing the administration to refile by August 22.
Whether the Trump administration intends to amend and resubmit the lawsuit has not yet been made clear.
