CHICAGO — Acting on the national emergency declaration at the southern border President Donald Trump signed hours after taking office last month, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and their leaders Thursday, seeking to end their ability to provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Trump Administration filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and their leaders Thursday, seeking to end their ability to provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants

  • The complaint names Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling among the Defendants 

  • The lawsuit alleges “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”

  • Chicago is one of dozens of so-called sanctuary cities around the country that either limit or refuse to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation

The complaint names Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling among the defendants in a lawsuit that alleges “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.”

Chicago is one of dozens of so-called sanctuary cities around the country that either limit or refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.

Filed on behalf of the United States, including the departments of Justice, State, Labor and Homeland Security, the complaint says Illinois is impeding the federal government from being able to enforce the country’s immigration laws. The lawsuit seeks to prohibit the state, as well as the city of Chicago and the county where it is located, from enforcing laws they passed to protect illegal immigrants, saying they violate the U.S. Constitution.

It says Congress has granted the executive branch “extensive authority to inspect, investigate, arrest, detain and remove aliens who are suspected of being, or found to be, unlawfully in the United States” and reiterates the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to to detain immigrants in the custody of another law enforcement agency.

The complaint cites the Laken Riley Act that Trump signed last week, which “mandates the federal detention of illegal immigrants who are accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, and any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury.”

Filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the lawsuit alleges the conduct of officials in Chicago and Illinois “has resulted in countless criminals being released into Chicago who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States." It cites ICE data that 13,564 illegal aliens were arrested in Illinois from 2016 through 2025 and alleges many were charged with serious crimes.

Emails to Pritzker’s and Johnson’s communications teams were not immediately answered.