Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has joined a 23-state amicus brief in support of the federal government’s lawsuit against the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago, challenging sanctuary policies that obstruct federal immigration enforcement.
The brief, filed April 8, urges the court to recognize that state laws cannot frustrate or override federal authority in immigration matters.
“I will not stand by while liberal bureaucrats in Chicago jeopardize the safety of Missouri families,” Bailey said. “Their unlawful policies turn the Midwest into a magnet for illegal immigration and criminal activity — and Missouri will not be a sanctuary for either.”
Missouri joined the brief to clarify that while states can cooperate with the federal government on immigration enforcement, they cannot pass laws that directly contradict or obstruct federal law. Illinois’s sanctuary statute unlawfully shields illegal aliens from federal authorities and disrupts the uniform enforcement of immigration laws nationwide.
The brief asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to grant the federal government’s request for preliminary injunctive relief and ultimately strike down Illinois’s unconstitutional statute. It stresses that immigration policy must remain federal, not fragmented by inconsistent and unlawful state action.
“When a minority of states like Illinois seek to thwart the enforcement of duly enacted federal immigration laws and policies, they impose the costs of their undemocratic choice on the rest of the nation,” the brief states. “Illegal immigration has real costs for amici states, including fewer resources and higher taxes for their citizens and legal aliens. The unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants has strained state welfare programs, emergency services, public education, and affordable housing, all while increasing crime.”
On Feb. 6, the U.S. Justice Department filed the lawsuit. That was the day after Pam Bondi was confirmed as U.S. Attorney General.
"The challenged provisions of Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County law have the purpose and effect of making it more difficult for, and deliberately impeding, federal immigration officers’ ability to carry out their responsibilities in those jurisdictions," the Justice Department said in its complaint.
"These provisions intentionally obstruct the sharing of information envisioned by Congress, including basic information such as release dates and custodial status, thereby impairing federal detention of removable aliens, including dangerous criminals, as required by federal law; they further purport to direct federal officials to procure criminal arrest warrants in order to take custody of removable aliens, even though Congress has made an explicit policy choice that such removals can be effectuated by civil arrest warrants for immigration enforcement;
"And they facilitate the release of dangerous criminals into the community by directing local employees to refuse to transfer such aliens to federal officials in a secure environment - thereby resulting in their release onto the streets, where they all too often reoffend and commit serious crimes," the Justice Department said.
In a statement, Bondi said: "For too long, leaders in Illinois and Chicago have abused their power by putting the comfort of illegal aliens over the safety and welfare of their own citizens. This ends today."
The lawsuit seeks injunctions against Illinois, Cook County and Chicago and its officials, preventing them from continuing to enforce provisions of state law and local ordinances that prohibit officials from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement officers.
Those provisions also stop police and correctional agencies from honoring requests from immigration officials to hold illegal immigrants convicted of any crime, including violent crimes, until immigration officials can pick them up to remove them from Illinois and the country.
The laws and ordinances targeted by the lawsuit include the state's so-called Way Forward Act and TRUST Act, as well as Chicago's "Welcoming City" ordinance and its equivalent enacted by Cook County.
All of the measures were enacted in recent years by the Democrats who dominate Springfield and Chicago, with the stated goal of protecting illegal immigrants from deportation by directing state and local agencies to no longer cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
In the lawsuit, the Justice Department asserts state and local officials are using the laws to effectively thumb their noses at federal law enforcement - but only when federal agents are attempting to enforce immigration laws.
Missouri joined the brief alongside Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois case number 1:25-cv-1285