States weigh laws to circumvent ICE immunity; Illinois’ to be tested in court
(The Center Square) – States around the country are introducing bills that would allow residents to sue individual federal officers for civil rights violations, and an Illinois law is already facing a court challenge.
Democrat lawmakers from states across the country announced a new initiative this week to introduce legislation they say brings accountability to immigration enforcement.
Gathered in Chicago, legislators from Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah and Washington discussed bills proposed and passed in their states regarding immigration and ICE.
Legislation creating a path to sue individual ICE agents for civil rights violations was at the core of lawmakers’ discussion, despite federal agents’ qualified immunity.
Illinois state Sen. Graciela Guzman, D-Chicago, said Illinois recently banned construction of new ICE detention facilities and passed the Bivens Act, which allows Illinoisans to sue federal agents under state law.
Illinois also banned local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement.
“We passed the Trust Act because local law enforcement should not be carrying out federal immigration enforcement. We built on that through Illinois Way Forward, ending our state’s participation in immigration detention,” Guzman said.
The Center Square spoke with state Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, a Rockford police officer, who said the laws passed in Illinois haven’t been useful. He thinks other states should avoid going down the same path.
From Minneapolis – which saw the death of two American citizens shot by ICE officers earlier this year – State Sen. Omar Fateh, an ICE critic, said Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party members tried to pass a package pushing back against the federal government this year.
But Minnesota House Republicans turned away that bill after it passed the Senate.
“I was proud to be the co-chief author of a bill that was creating a right for Minnesotans to sue federal agents for violating their rights,” Fateh said. “In our tied house, the Republican leadership spent the session pretending the bill did not exist.”
With assistance from the ACLU, people in Illinois and across the country are filing court claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which is one of few methods available to pursue damages against agents for alleged constitutional violations.
State lawmakers still want more.
Colorado state Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, explained the group’s views on federal immunity and how states can circumvent it.
“There is no universal total criminal law immunity either. It is difficult. The truth is that all agents do have their bit of criminal law immunity, of course to do their job, but it is not complete,” Weissman said. “We don’t need to pass bills or there to be authority for local prosecutors to act.”
Cabello criticized statutes like the Bivens Act, arguing immunity for agents is necessary to get their jobs done, but the laws are toothless from his perspective.
“It’s a feel good legislation for them to go back and tell the people making the loudest cries that ‘we did something for you.’ The state cannot trump federal law,” Cabello said. “They can try to sue all they want, but I don’t see how they’re going to be able to get it done.”
The Illinois law has lead to at least five lawsuits against individual ICE agents in recent month, according to Guzman.
Mostly Sunny
