Latest news with #IllinoisTRUSTAct
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chicago among cities with Monday rallies in protest of Calif. National Guard deployment
CHICAGO (WGN) — Immigrant, civil rights and labor groups in more than a dozen US cities on Monday, including Chicago, held rallies in protest of the new phase in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. President Donald Trump over the weekend federalized the California National Guard after protestors and law enforcement faced off in Los Angeles. The rising tension follows last week's immigration crackdown in Chicago, in which advocates accused Chicago police of assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, a claim the department denies. 'What we saw last week and over the weekend wasn't lawful enforcement it was a belligerent power grab,' Rep. Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia said at a Monday rally at Daley Plaza. 'This isn't about safety. This is about control. Fear is the tactic. Silence is the goal. This is not about immigration. This is about domination of all of our communities.' What to know about Trump's deployment of National Guard troops California governor to sue Trump over National Guard deployments ICE arrests at Chicago immigration building spark protest; advocates speak out The event in Chicago coincided with planned rallies from coast to coast, including Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Boston. 'Their tactic to incite violence is clearly intentional and it creates a moment that Trump will certainly exploit to enact even more harm,' said Lawrence Benito, CEO of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Groups gathered Monday also spoke out against Trump's extensive new travel ban barring nationals of 12 countries from entering the U.S. The ban mostly affects countries in Africa and the Middle East. The president made the final call on signing the order following the June 1 antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado. 'We must be clear that this is undeniably rooted in anti-Muslim, anti-Black … racism,' said Nadiah Alyafai with the Arab American Action Network. In Washington, House Republicans are set to grill three blue state governors about their cooperation with ICE. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is set to testify Thursday along with the governors of New York and Minnesota. As first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, a source tells WGN-TV that Pritzker has retained a Washington, D.C. law firm to help him prep, paying for the services out of his own pocket. He's also getting a hand from a former White House counsel to President Joe Biden. A Pritzker spokesman says the governor will show that the Illinois TRUST Act is fully compliant with federal law. The law, signed by Republican Bruce Rauner, enables people regardless of immigration status to report crime and call emergency services. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump threatens to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities
CHICAGO (WGN) — President Donald Trump on Thursday morning said his administration is 'working on papers' to withhold federal funding from cities and states with policies that limit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities on immigration matters. 'No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country, and are being mocked all over the World,' Trump wrote on his social media platform. 'Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!' Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged in January the receipt of a letter from Washington, D.C., that states, in summary, that Chicago and other cities like it — notably Denver, New York and Boston, all of which hold sanctuary city status like Chicago — are being investigated by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He testified before a Congressional panel last month. Chicago's policy that prevents city officials (including police officers) from cooperating with federal immigration authorities has been in place, in some form, for 40 years. Chicago's history as a sanctuary city spans 40 years, 7 presidents and 5 mayors In 2017, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a bill which barred police from arresting anyone solely due to their immigration status. Gov. JB Pritzker signed further legislation in 2021 with additional protections. '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 February. 'Illinois will defend our laws that prioritize police resources for fighting crime while enabling state law enforcement to assist with arresting violent criminals.' The Department of Justice claims Illinois' TRUST Act and Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance are invalid due to the Supremacy is a developing story and will be updated. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
10-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump "working on papers" to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities, including Chicago
President Trump said Thursday he is "working on papers" to withhold federal funding to U.S. sanctuary cities , including Chicago. In a Thursday morning post to his Truth Social account , Mr. Trump wrote, "No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country, and are being mocked all over the World. Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!" Early in his second term, Trump turned his ire toward Chicago and other sanctuary cities. His pick for border czar, Tom Homan, warned Chicago in January that it would be "ground zero" for mass deportations once Trump took office. Homan warned the Trump administration would flood Chicago with ICE agents "looking for criminals and gang members." Chicago adopted its Welcoming City Ordinance decades ago. The ordinance prohibits Chicago police from cooperating with federal authorities in any immigration enforcement orders. The city is, however, required to help ICE whenever the agency presents a judicial criminal warrant for arrest. The city council recently blocked an effort by some of the council's more conservative alders to water down the ordinance and allow CPD to work with federal immigration agencies in cases where undocumented immigrants have been arrested or convicted of certain crimes. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also recently testified before the House Oversight Committee on Chicago's sanctuary city status . He and other U.S. mayors called to testify proudly defended their sanctuary city status , arguing they have an obligation to protect everyone in their cities regardless of immigration status. "Chicago is and always has been a proud city of immigrants. Generations of new arrivals, including the descendants of the enslaved during the Great Migration, created a vibrant city where one in five residents is foreign-born," Johnson said at the March hearing. Johnson said Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance helps promote trust and cooperation between police and immigrant communities by reducing fears of deportations. More broadly, the Illinois TRUST Act, enacted in 2017, restricts the ability of local law enforcement statewide to participate in federal immigration enforcement.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What is the Midwest's role in the great immigration debate?
It seemed unlikely to Genna Buhr that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would raid the public library she directs in East Peoria, Illinois — population 22,012 — but she warned her staff anyway. "ICE can enter the library to look for people in areas of the building open to the general public, just as any person or officer of the law can enter the library to look for someone in public areas," Buhr emailed staffers on Jan. 31. "If an officer presents you with any kind of legal document, get me." But Tazewell County, home to East Peoria, had barely more than 3,000 immigrants pre-pandemic — naturalized citizens, green card holders, temporary visa holders, refugees, asylees, and yes, undocumented immigrants, according to analyses of census datasets by the American Immigration Council. This doesn't mean undocumented immigrants aren't an issue in Midwestern states such as Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin. It doesn't mean there are no concentrations of them in specific industries in cities and towns. Like most other states, the highest concentrations of undocumented immigrants in Midwestern states are in urban centers where "sanctuary" policies may offer a perception of welcoming and protection from immigration enforcement. Chicago, the nation's third-largest city, is the one most people know. The city is the target of a lawsuit from President Donald Trump's administration alleging that its 40-year-old sanctuary city policy hinders the federal government's enforcement of immigration laws. The administration also is suing Illinois and Cook County over their sanctuary law and policies. There is no legal definition of a 'sanctuary city,' but according to Global Refuge, a Maryland-based non-profit that helps immigrants and refugees, it is a term often assigned to a municipality or community 'with a policy, written or unwritten, that discourages local law enforcement from reporting the immigration status of individuals unless it involves investigation of a serious crime.' Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which supports less immigration and more enforcement, listed Illinois as the only Midwestern state among 13 it calls sanctuary states. In testimony before a congressional committee on March 5, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance and a companion state law, known as the Illinois TRUST Act, that he said do 'not permit our local law enforcement" to cooperate with ICE. 'With a criminal warrant, our city and state will cooperate. But without a criminal warrant, our local law enforcement focuses' on fighting local crime, Johnson said. Johnson told the congressional committee that sanctuary policies promote public safety. 'When there is trust between residents and police, undocumented immigrants come forward to report crimes and provide information to solve crime,' he said. But congressional Republicans argue that sanctuary city policies violate the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause, which holds that federal law trumps state laws. One of them pressed the Democratic Chicago mayor on how much money the city has spent managing the 50,000-plus migrants who have arrived there since 2022. Johnson said it accounted for about 1% of the city's budget over four years. Chicago's 2025 budget amounts to more than $17 billion. One percent of that is $170 million. The legal wrangling over enforcement against undocumented immigrants in Chicago could continue throughout Trump's term. Chicago attorneys with the National Immigrant Justice Center and ACLU of Illinois filed a motion in U.S. District Court in March accusing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE of violating immigration law and the constitutional rights of at least 22 people who were arrested and detained in the Midwest since January. But Chicago is an outlier in the Midwest, albeit the largest one. "The Midwest is the least affected region by immigration generally and illegal immigration specifically," said Steven A. Camarota, director of research for CIS. "All the research shows that outside of Illinois, there aren't that many illegal immigrants in the Midwest." A new CIS analysis of U.S. Census Bureau raw data through February indicates the Midwest accounts for the smallest share of the nation's foreign-born population, which CIS said includes both immigrants who are lawfully present and those who are undocumented. The Midwest's share was 11.9%. The South had the highest share at 37.4% and also the fastest rate of growth since 1990. "Of course, there's always more uncertainty about estimating illegal immigrants," Camarota said. "But since illegal immigrants live with legal immigrants all the time, as a generalized statement, where there's lots of legal immigrants, there's lots of illegal immigrants, too. Because illegal immigrants come often from the same countries as legal immigrants. Or vice versa." The uncertainty illustrates an issue confronting researchers, activists and others seeking data about undocumented immigrants: Ideological differences between research and policy analysis organizations mean their competing data sets require context. Two numbers speak volumes: As of March 2025, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates about 18.6 million undocumented immigrants reside in the United States. The American Immigration Council's number: 11.8 million. One reason for the difference may be that the Council's number is based on the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) one-year sample. FAIR argues the ACS data dramatically undercount the foreign-born population, including undocumented immigrants. Another explanation: FAIR asserts many groups part of what it calls the "open-borders lobby" misclassify Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries and other immigrant subsets as being in the United States legally. "It is important to note that 'legal status' is not the same as 'lawful presence,'" stated FAIR's March report. "For example, recipients of deferred action, deferred enforced departure, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or parole do not have legal status. These programs (some of which are authorized by statute and some of which are not) do not give illegal aliens visas or green cards. They merely defer deportation for a period of time." The American Immigration Council codes a list of foreign-born individuals as legal U.S. residents, including individuals "working in occupations where immigrants are likely to be on H-1B or other visas, including computer scientists, professors, engineers, and life scientists" and "international students residing in the United States on temporary visas." Both leading research organizations make their sympathies clear. The American Immigration Council works with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, it says, "to increase access to legal counsel by leveraging a nationwide network of volunteers and training lawyers to vigorously defend immigrants facing removal." The Council's "Map the Impact" page offers national and state-by-state estimates of taxes paid by immigrants, their spending power and the number of immigrant entrepreneurs. The page does not mention costs, but the Council did publish a report last year on "the cost of immigration enforcement and border security," saying hundreds of billions had been spent in lieu of "a more balanced approach that provides the resources necessary to build a functional humanitarian protection system while balancing security interests." FAIR? It "seeks to reduce overall immigration to a more normal level," the organization states, to "allow America to manage growth, address environmental concerns, and maintain a high quality of life." In an 85-page study released in March 2023, FAIR asserted that federal, state and local taxes paid by undocumented immigrants — more than $31 billion, by the study's count — were far outstripped by such costs as education, healthcare, justice enforcement and welfare programs, which it pegged at more than $182 billion. The American Immigration Council's estimate of total taxes paid by undocumented immigrants — $89.8 billion based on 2023 ACS data — is about $60 billion off FAIR's number. "While politicians continue to debate what to do about illegal immigration, millions of undocumented immigrants are working across the country, contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy," the Council states. Everyone in the country pays some sales tax and user fees. CIS acknowledges undocumented immigrants have high rates of work and do pay some taxes, including income and payroll taxes — but argues that those tax payments are low given their low education levels. It can be argued that renters pay property taxes indirectly with their rent. "They do contribute greatly to taxes, the undocumented," said the American Immigration Council's senior data scientist, Dr. Steven Hubbard. "They often are not receiving those benefits. They don't get Social Security, they don't get Medicaid, they don't get Medicare. So they are often paying into these programs while they are not receiving those full benefits." Camarota, who takes an opposing view, conceded that nearly all undocumented immigrants are blocked from receiving Social Security and Medicare, so the taxes they pay do constitute a net benefit to both programs. "However, the positive effect on these programs would become negative if (undocumented immigrants) were legalized and allowed to receive benefits," Camarota said in testimony before a congressional committee last year. "This is because both programs have progressive benefit structures that give lower-earning and shorter-career workers a greater return on their contributions." However out of date and disputed their numbers may be, FAIR's 2023 report and 2023 data provided by the American Immigration Council do provide estimates of undocumented immigrants for each state: FAIR estimates Illinois has the nation's sixth-highest estimated population of undocumented immigrants at 628,000; the Council's number is 527,400. FAIR puts Michigan at 185,000; the Council's number is 110,700. FAIR's number for Indiana is 154,000; the Council's number is 122,400. FAIR puts Wisconsin at 111,000; the Council's number is 93,000. FAIR pegs Missouri's count at 77,000; the Council's number is 67,900. They may both be wrong about Missouri, or their data aren't as current as the state's. Announcing last year that he was filing suit to "prohibit Obamacare from funding illegal immigrants," Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey estimated there were 77,000 to 104,000 undocumented immigrants living in the state, costing taxpayers between $342 million and $462 million annually. No matter which organization's data you parse through, the numbers of undocumented immigrants in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin and Michigan together don't equal those posted by California or Texas. Why? The easy answer is that no Midwestern state shares a border with Mexico. But there's more to it than that, said CIS's Camarota. "The simple answer is job growth," he said. "The Midwest, because of the structure of its economy and other things, just experienced less job growth than most parts of the country. "It was an area most dependent on manufacturing in the last 50 years and, as manufacturing declined as a share of U.S. GDP (gross domestic product), especially the share of employment — employment growth in the Midwest was not zero. It's not nothing. It just lagged the other regions." According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), manufacturing as a percentage of GDP nationally shrunk from 16.1% in 1997 to 10.2% in 2023. Midwestern states saw similar drops, with Michigan dropping nine percentage points and Wisconsin dropping eight, according to state-by-state BEA data. Year-to-year data paints much the same picture. National Business Capital, a New York State-based national fintech lending platform for business owners, ranked Indiana 50th in the nation in 2023, with "the worst prospect for job growth" in 2024. Michigan ranked 48th and Missouri 44th. It's the most recent data the organization has. The conflicts over immigration data, academic as they seem, only hint at the ferocity over immigration policy that roils the Midwest. This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: What is the Midwest's role in the great immigration debate?
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOJ sues Illinois, Chicago over ‘sanctuary city' laws
President Trump's Justice Department sued the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and local officials Thursday over laws creating a sanctuary city. Accusing the officials of impeding federal immigration enforcement efforts, the Justice Department asked a judge to declare the state and local measures unconstitutional because of the federal government's supremacy. 'The challenged provisions of Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County law reflect their intentional effort to obstruct the Federal Government's enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe,' the lawsuit states. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago, is one of the first major cases brought by the new administration's Justice Department. It comes after the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi, who on her first day issued a memo restricting sanctuary cities from accessing Justice Department funds. It is part of a flurry of immigration-related actions in the first few weeks of Trump's administration, including orders that restrict birthright citizenship and declare an invasion at the southern border. His Department of Homeland Security has also focused its deportation efforts on sanctuary cities. Among other provisions, the laws challenged in the new case prohibit officials from complying with federal immigration detainers and providing certain information about noncitizens. The Justice Department's lawsuit Wednesday adds to one previously filed by several Chicago-based organizations that support sanctuary cities, which seeks to block the administration's immigration raids in the Windy City. The government's case names as defendants the state of Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker (D), Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), the city's police superintendent and other local officials. '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's office 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 statement continued. The Hill has reached out to Johnson's office for comment. The complaint cites Pritzker's comments on CNN late last month, when he said he's eager to cooperate with federal immigration officials to 'get rid' of criminals but questioned the basis for targeting undocumented migrants that are 'law-abiding' and have integrated into communities. 'In rejecting congressionally authorized means of enforcing federal immigration law, including detainers and administrative warrants, these provisions constitute unlawful direct regulation of the Federal Government,' the lawsuit states. Updated at 12:21 pm EST. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
