Illinois leaders push back over DHS request to comply with immigration detainers
Illinois leaders are responding to the request that the Department of Homeland Security wants states, including California, New York, and Illinois, to comply with immigration detainers.
The department said it is putting all three states on notice because the states have not cooperated with the requests, when ICE asked local jails and prisons to alert the agency if they are releasing an undocumented individuals so they can take them into custody.
DHS said detainer compliance is necessary to prevent undocumented criminals from re-entering communities.
CBS News Chicago obtained a letter sent by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to DHS, which said the federal government does not have the legal authority to force state or local law enforcement to comply with such detainer requests.
Senior Homeland Security officials told CBS News they will tap the Department of Justice to sue states and attempt to block federal funding.
"Based on our current Supreme Court precedent, the state of Illinois stands on a strong footing," Arthur Acevedo said.
Acevedo is with the University of Illinois-Chicago Law School, and said the Constitution's 10th Amendment protects Illinois' policies like the Trust Act, which prohibits local cooperation on things like ICE detainers.
"It cannot order state officials or state officers to pursue or enact a federal program. So basically, whenever the federal government wants to do something, they need to put in their own staff," Acevedo said.
When it comes to the threat of blocking federal funding, Acevedo said the Trump Administration is facing an uphill battle. While he said legal precedent may favor states like Illinois in preventing federal funding from being cut, he expects the administration to test the limits of its power.
"The Trump administration has been successful in the eight months that they've been in office in getting the Supreme Court to at least to agree with them on an emergency basis. We still have to understand if they will prevail when the Supreme Court does a full review on the merits," Acevedo said.
In the letter responding to Homeland Security, the office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said that if ICE suspects someone of engaging in criminal conduct in Illinois to obtain judicial warrants for those individuals.