Politics
Illinois, Chicago Sue Trump Administration Over ‘Illegal’ Immigration Enforcement Tactics
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents make an arrest during an early morning operation in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo / Erin Hooley)
Chicago and Illinois officials are suing the Trump administration, claiming its “menacing, violent, and unlawful incursion” under the guise of enhanced immigration enforcement is unconstitutional and has attacked the city and state’s ability to carry out core functions.
The lawsuit, announced Monday by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, claims the ongoing “assault” on the state’s sovereignty amid the administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration enforcement violates the 10th Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.
The sweeping 103-page lawsuit complaint claims that Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — who have conducted numerous aggressive raids in and around Chicago since “Midway Blitz” began in September — have acted as “occupiers” rather than law enforcement.
“The occupation of Illinois and Chicago is 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,” the lawsuit states. “Illinois and Chicago have refused to do so.”
The lawsuit names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, among others, as defendants.
“The fact is that sanctuary politicians in Illinois and Chicago released violent criminals including murderers, rapists, drug dealers, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists, onto its streets and their dereliction of duty cost lives — just ask Katie Abraham’s father,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, referencing a 20-year-old Illinois student who was killed in a crash allegedly involving a man who entered into the country with false documents.
McLaughlin called this a “baseless lawsuit” that her department looks "forward to proving that in court.”
“These actions weren’t just unlawful; they were cruel, needlessly inflicting fear and harm on our communities,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “My administration will forcefully protect our residents’ rights and hold anyone accountable who abuses their power. Nobody is above the law. This lawsuit is about ensuring there is accountability for the lawless actions of the Trump administration and justice for the Chicagoans who have been wronged.”
According to Raoul, the lawsuit seeks a federal order halting federal immigration agents in Illinois from using unlawful tactics including dispensing tear gas and other chemical weapons against people who aren’t resisting, scanning residents’ biometric information and entering private property without a warrant or permission.
The ongoing enforcement operation has seen federal agents repeatedly using riot control weapons like tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters, journalists and Illinois residents without provocation, the lawsuit claims.
A federal judge has since found Border Patrol agents, including Bovino, repeatedly lied about the threat posed by protesters and their conduct on the streets of Chicago as they “indiscriminately” fired tear gas at Chicagoans, tackled them, beat them, struck them with pepper balls and pointed weapons at them.
“But what has been happening since September 2025 is not immigration enforcement,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, Defendants have imported interdiction tactics from the border into Chicago’s neighborhoods, and then, as one senior official put it, ‘turn[ed] up the creative knob ... to 11 and push[ed] the envelope.’”
One man — Silverio Villegas González — was killed by an ICE agent during a Sept. 12 traffic stop in suburban Chicago. Another woman, Marimar Martinez, was shot multiple times after she and others tracked immigration agents in October.
Martinez survived and was initially charged with assaulting immigration agents, though those charges were later dropped.
The lawsuit also claims that, for decades, federal immigration agents have been able to enforce immigration laws in Illinois without significant interruption to public order and safety. But since the launch of “Operation Midway Blitz,” agents have been an “abhorrent example of urban policing,” according to Gov. JB Pritzker.
“In the face of the Trump Administration’s cruelty and intimidation, Illinois is standing up against the attacks on our people,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Today, Illinois is once again taking Donald Trump to court to hold his administration accountable for their unlawful tactics, unnecessary escalations, and flagrant abuses of power.”
