by Breane Lyga
WREX — Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle, Stephenson County Sheriff David Snyders and two other Illinois sheriffs are suing Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul over the 2017 Trust Act.
The Trust Act prohibits law enforcement from holding or detaining a person based on an administrative hold of “detainer” issued by immigration authorities unless presented with a signed judicial warrant.
McHenry County Sheriff Bill Prim and Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey are also listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which says the Trust Act is unconstitutional because federal law contradicts it.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois says the federal government alone has authority “to regulate matters pertaining to immigration and the status of aliens.”
The suit also seeks a declaratory judgment that the Trust Act is in fact preempted by both the U.S. Constitution and Congressional statutes and is therefore invalid and unenforceable.
"Based on its enumerated powers and its constitutional power as a sovereign to control and conduct relations with foreign nations, the federal government alone has the authority to establish immigration laws, the execution of which the States cannot obstruct,” the suit said.
The lawsuit says the majority of the conflict between the Trust Act and federal law revolves around the use of "detainers." Federal law which requires local law enforcement to maintain custody of an undocumented immigrant for up to 48 hours to give federal officials time to find the immigration status.
In Nov. 2019, the ACLU of Illinois sued the Ogle and Stephenson county sheriffs for alleged violations of the Trust Act.
In the two separate lawsuits, the sheriffs are accused of stopping and arresting men for minor traffic infractions. The lawsuits allege the sheriff’s office continued to detain them, even after they had posted bond, until federal immigration authorities came to pick them up.
“The police in Illinois do not work for ICE. People should not be detained because of how they look, what they believe or what paperwork they may or may not have,” Senate President John Cullerton said in Nov. in a news release for the ACLU of Illinois.
13 WREX has reached out to Sheriff Snyders and Sheriff VanVickle for comment, as well as IL AG Kwame Raoul. Stick with 13 WREX for reports at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
*An earlier version of this headline called Sheriff Snyders the Lee County sheriff. He is the Stephenson County sheriff.
For more information contact us at http://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/
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