Federal judge dismisses Trump admin's Illinois lawsuit over sanctuary policies

A federal judge on Friday dismissed the Trump administration's first sanctuary policy lawsuit against Illinois and Chicago, ruling that trying to force the parties to help crackdown on illegal immigration would violate state autonomy.

The Trump administration sued Illinois and Chicago in February, alleging they interfered with federal immigration laws with their sanctuary city and state policies, which were "designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government's enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution." 

U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins ruled that the Trump administration's efforts to force the state and city to comply with federal immigration law was an “end-run around the Tenth Amendment," which protects states from federal overreach.

"Because the Tenth Amendment protects Defendants’ Sanctuary Policies, those Policies cannot be found to discriminate against or regulate the federal government," Jenkins wrote in a 64-page order. 

The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the Justice Department can revive the case by amending its complaint.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.