Photo: Alamy
The Justice Department sued the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago over sanctuary city laws on Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson and others in the state over “significant threats to national security and public safety.”
“Further exacerbating this national crisis, some of these 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,” the lawsuit added.
Pritzker stated that his office would fight the lawsuit in court.
“Unlike Donald Trump, Illinois follows the law. The bipartisan Illinois TRUST Act, signed into law by a Republican governor, has always been compliant with federal law and still is today,” Pritzker said in a statement.
“Illinois will defend our laws that prioritize police resources for fighting crime while enabling state law enforcement to assist with arresting violent criminals. Instead of working with us to support law enforcement, the Trump Administration is making it more difficult to protect the public, just like they did when Trump pardoned the convicted January 6 violent criminals. We look forward to seeing them in court,” the governor continued.
Mayor Johnson also responded to the lawsuit in a statement.
“There are multiple opportunities that this administration has to bring together the legislative branch and the judicial branch,” he said. “Instead, he has decided that he wants us to surrender our humanity. And we’re not going to do that.”
New Trump administration U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned that other states and cities would be next, according to her response during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday.
“What they’re doing is they are choosing illegal aliens over the safety and security of their own citizens and the men and women of law enforcement who are out there trying to protect their citizens,” Bondi stated.
“And let me be very clear, if you don’t comply with federal law, you’re going to be next,” she added, warning other sanctuary cities to comply with federal law.