The state of Illinois and city of Chicago filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump Administration on Monday, alleging federal agents carried out an illegal “occupation,” during which they utilized violent and unlawful tactics in violation of the Tenth Amendment and federal statutes.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, alleged both Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made arrests without warrants, randomly questioned hundreds of people and used chemical weapons on law-abiding residents during the immigration enforcement effort “Operation Midway Blitz.”
“Though Defendants describe this assault as ‘immigration enforcement,’ the reality is that uniformed, military-trained personnel, carrying semi-automatic firearms and military-grade weaponry, have rampaged for months through Chicago and surrounding areas, lawlessly stopping, interrogating, and arresting residents, and attacking them with chemical weapons,” the court complaint stated, in part.
State officials repeatedly referred to the deployment of federal agents as an “occupation,” which they said was “intended to coerce Plaintiffs to abandon their policies, which value and respect the State’s immigrants, and devote their resources to further the immigration policies of the current administration.”
Raoul, in a news release, alleged violations of the 10th Amendment, which defines the relationship between federal and state governments, and the Administrative Procedure Act “many times over.” The immigration enforcement activity, Raoul asserted, has attacked Illinois’ ability to perform sovereign functions, including regulating public health, upholding a system of education, supporting the state’s economy and providing public safety.
The lawsuit follows a new wave of anti-ICE protests across the country after an immigration officer shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis in what the officer claimed was self-defense.
Both Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have long criticized expanded ICE operations in the Chicago area, with Pritzker blasting agents for utilizing “military-style techniques.” Johnson asserted raids carried out by agents “violated the dignity of all Chicagoans.”
In response to the federal deployment, Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting the use of city property for federal immigration operations. Pritzker, meanwhile, signed the “Keep Illinois Families Together Act,” which prohibits law enforcement agencies and officials from entering into partnerships with ICE — and makes buildings such as state schools, health care facilities and public libraries off-limits for immigration enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security hadn’t released a statement on the lawsuit as of Monday afternoon.
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