Illinois lawmakers push to tackle constitutional violations in immigration raids, ban courthouse arrests
Amid increased public calls for Illinois elected officials to more strongly push back against the Trump administration’s sometimes-violent crackdown on undocumented people in the Chicago region, state lawmakers on Thursday proposed trying to formally ban federal agents from arresting people near courthouses and allowing lawsuits if individuals’ rights have been violated in civil immigration arrests.
Even the measure’s key sponsor, Senate President Don Harmon, called the bill “imperfect,” but he said Democratic lawmakers in Springfield felt the need to act, as state and local officials have often felt hamstrung in countering the federal government’s often-aggressive tactics.
“I’m prepared for this law to be challenged, but I think we still have an obligation to try to do something,” Harmon of Oak Park told a committee hearing in Springfield Thursday. “There is no need for the same people who are charged with protecting our constitutional rights to violate our constitutional rights in the process.”
Under the bill discussed in committee, individuals could sue officers for knowingly violating the state or U.S. Constitution during civil immigration enforcement. The bill would also codify a 1,000-foot “safe zone” around courthouses, free from civil arrests, in an attempt to limit potential disruptions to court activities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol enforcement activities in Chicago and the surrounding areas have come under increased scrutiny and criticism. In what the federal government has described as an initiative to deport the “worst of the worst” individuals who lack legal status, agents have repeatedly detained people first and sought information about them later, without immediate regard for citizenship or legal status.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/30/illinois-lawmakers-push-to-tackle-constitutional-violations-in-immigration-raids-ban-courthouse-arrests/
Illinois is doing, or at least attempting, stuff that other states won't. Good for them!