Attorneys general representing 23 states have joined forces in opposition to Chicago and Illinois “sanctuary” laws that prohibit local law enforcement officers from helping with the enforcement of federal immigration statutes.
In an amicus brief filed in support of the federal government’s lawsuit against the city and state, the group argues that Illinois and Chicago are causing harm to their states by obstructing the enforcement of immigration law.
“The national immigration crisis has rendered ‘every state … a border state,’” Ohio Solicitor General T. Elliot Gaiser wrote in a letter signed by 22 colleagues, including attorneys general from Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa.
“Rogue States and cities cannot now thwart the nation’s ‘political will’ on illegal immigration, twice expressed, via Congress’s laws and the president’s policies,” wrote Gaiser, who argued that states “have no right to enact laws conflicting with federal immigration statutes.”
“Defendants ignored that basic premise of federalism when they enacted laws ordering local law enforcement to bar federal immigration agents from accessing illegal aliens in state or local custody,” the letter continues.
“Those access bans violate the Supremacy Clause twice over. They directly conflict with a federal statute that imposes criminal penalties on any person who ‘conceals, harbors, or shields from detection’ an illegal
alien ‘in any place,’” Gaiser wrote, “and they run afoul of intergovernmental immunity by controlling the operations of federal immigration agents.”
The group argues that when Chicago and Illinois “attempt to frustrate federal immigration laws that protect all States, the result is harm reaching far outside their borders.”
They allege that the “harm” extends to the states the signers represent, including expenses for healthcare, education, housing, and crime.
“In 2018, over 40% of federal criminal prosecutions were against illegal aliens, and illegal aliens accounted for roughly one quarter of all federal drug offense prosecutions,” the group claims. “As of January 2024, over 617,000 aliens in the U.S. on Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s non-detained docket had criminal convictions or charges against them.”
But Chicago and Illinois policies “require law enforcement officers to shield the worst offenders—illegal aliens incarcerated on criminal convictions or charges.”
Citing an explanation from the 1787 Philadelphia Convention that “rule for naturalization ought to be the same in every State,” the group claims “many States still (rightly) worry that so-called sanctuary policies in a minority of States will incent illegal immigration that affects all States. That risks the welfare of everyone, including lawful citizens and legal aliens, and it breaches the bargain the Constitution itself struck.”
While “States may opt out of joint federal-state [law] enforcement schemes,” the group argues, “enacting legislation that aggressively interferes with enforcement of Congress’s immigration laws is not on the menu of options.”
Citing the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, the group claims states are barred from “interfering with or controlling the operations of the Federal Government.”
“Singling out the Federal Government for unfavorable treatment” is also forbidden, they argued.
In addition to Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri, the brief was signed by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The Cook County Record was the first to report on the amicus brief.
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