The Justice Department sued Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County yesterday over their laws limiting the involvement of local police in the enforcement of federal immigration policies, areas commonly known as "sanctuary" jurisdictions. The lawsuit came a day after newly sworn-in Attorney General Pam Bondi called for such regions to be federally defunded.
At least a dozen states and hundreds of cities—including New York and California—have statutes prohibiting local law enforcement, to some degree, from cooperating with federal requests to detain migrants or provide information on noncitizens (see map). Such laws ostensibly serve to cultivate trust between immigrant communities and authorities, though critics claim they allow cities and states to flout federal authority.
The tensions hinge on legal questions around whether the federal government can commandeer states to fulfill its obligations, known as the anticommandeering doctrine. The Trump administration argues federal power preempts such state laws. See an overview of the debate here.
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