By Jorge Mederos
Miami, Feb 7 (EFE).- The second Trump administration launched on Thursday its new war against the sanctuary cities in the United States by ordering the withholding of federal funds destined to help migrants in Chicago, Illinois.
Sanctuary cities, counties, and states are jurisdictions that limit their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal migration authorities in certain detention and deportation cases.
Chicago, one of the main sanctuary cities, is facing the first lawsuit from Donald Trump’s administration, along with the entire state of Illinois.
The lawsuit seeks the court’s support to block sanctuary policies in other states, counties, and cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, Houston, and Atlanta, which also have large populations of undocumented migrants.
Fred Tsao from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights told EFE that the city and state of Illinois faces “recycled and baseless legal attacks from the Trump administration.”
Central Americans, the source of protection measures
The sanctuary movement emerged when the federal government denied asylum to migrants from politically unstable Central American countries, and several churches in the Southwest publicly declared themselves sanctuaries for refugees in 1982.
Chicago has been a sanctuary city since 1985 when then-mayor Harold Washington signed an executive order.
The largest city in Illinois bans cooperation between municipal police and immigration agents, while all of Cook County stopped cooperating with ICE requests for extended detention of undocumented migrants without a warrant in 2011.
On Thursday, the Department of Justice claimed in its lawsuit that the laws governing Chicago should be declared unconstitutional because they hinder migration enforcement.
It asked a federal judge to prohibit the Cook County Sheriff of Illinois, Chicago, and other cities from using local laws that protect migrants and hinder federal law enforcement.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi asked the DOJ to suspend funding to sanctuary cities until a review is completed.
The first Trump administration (2017-2021) tried a similar move but was defeated in court in 2020. However, it is now relying on a sympathetic judiciary, including the Supreme Court.
“The president believes he will do better this time, with like-minded justices who would not uphold challenges to his executive orders,” Tsao lamented.
The first lawsuit
Thursday’s lawsuit challenges the state’s 2017 TRUST Act, enacted by current Democratic Governor JB Pritzker’s predecessor, Republican Bruce Rauner, which prohibits state and local law enforcement from engaging in migration enforcement. However, it does allow for coordination when a federal criminal warrant is involved.
According to the lawsuit, this and other state and local laws are “designed to interfere with and discriminate against federal migration enforcement.”
“Illinois will defend our laws that prioritize police resources for fighting crime while enabling state law enforcement to assist with arresting violent criminals,” Pritzker said.
“Instead of working with us to support law enforcement, the Trump Administration is making it more difficult to protect the public, just like they did when Trump pardoned the convicted Jan. 6 violent criminals. We look forward to seeing them in court,” he added.
“Chicago is and will remain a welcoming city,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson.
“The safety and security of Chicago residents remains the priority for the Johnson Administration. Chicago will continue to protect the working people of our city and defend against attacks on our longstanding values,” he added.
“We will pursue every legal opportunity to defend the programs that we believe in and defend our values,” said Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle. EFE
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