* From the Illinois Attorney General…

In Illinois, local law enforcement generally cannot assist in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law. The Illinois TRUST Act states that a “law enforcement agency or official may not participate, support, or assist in any capacity with an immigration agent’s enforcement operations.” It further specifies that local law enforcement:

• May not transfer any person into an immigration agent’s custody;
• May not give any immigration agent access, including by telephone, to any individual who is in the law enforcement agency’s custody;
• May not permit immigration agents’ use of agency facilities or equipment, including the use of electronic databases not available to the public, for any investigative or immigration enforcement purpose; and
• May not otherwise render collateral assistance to federal immigration agents, including by coordinating an arrest in a courthouse or other public facility, transporting any individuals, establishing a security or traffic perimeter, or providing other on-site support.

Local law enforcement may provide these types of assistance only in two narrow circumstances: when they are presented with a federal criminal warrant; or when they are otherwise required by a specific federal law.

No federal laws and no federal judicial precedents require local police agencies to assist with civil ICE warrants, which can be drafted by the arresting ICE officers on the spot without any oversight.

* With that in mind, here’s Cassie Schoene at KHQA TV…

The [Quincy Police Department] says that, under state law, they would not help a federal agency with a civil immigration matter.

“If they were simply wanting to go somewhere to try serve an administrative detainer or take someone under custody purely on administrative action, then we would not participate in that,” said [Quincy Chief of Police Adam Yates].

But the [Adams County] sheriff’s office has already worked with ICE, handed over illegal immigrants, and said they will continue to do so. […]

“I have no intentions of turning away ICE agents or any of them, homeland security agents, any of them that encounter illegal aliens in our community. I know that we’ve had few, and we’ve put a few in jail, and they’ve since been transported out of here by ICE,” said [Adams County Sheriff Tony Grootens]. […]

Illinois may be a sanctuary state, but according to Grootens, Adams County is not.

“It doesn’t really mean anything for Adams County, cause we’re going to continue to house illegal immigrants as they are picked up because they are still in violation of federal law…Being a sanctuary state, they’re going to seek refuge, protection from the state, but not here,” said Grootens.

* Coverage roundup from Isabel…

* Journal Courier | Illinois attorney general says ICE needs to identify itself during arrests: Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 20 other attorneys general are asking federal legislators to advance legislation requiring all federal immigration agents not to hide their identities. In a letter to Congress, the 21 attorneys general ask for “legislation that would generally prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks that conceal their identity and require them to show their identification and agency-identifying insignia.”

* Daily Herald | Rep. Underwood demands answers over ‘reckless’ ICE activity in Joliet: In the letter [to Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security], Underwood said multiple witnesses reported on July 9 that “an unmarked black, extended-cab truck taking part in ICE enforcement actions” had rammed into the rear of a civilian vehicle and trapped it near the intersection of Cass and Arch streets in Joliet. […] “Witnesses then report seeing one man being removed from the vehicle that was rammed and detained. We have since been informed that the individual was told he would be ‘removed on the 22nd,’” according to the letter.

* AP | Trump Administration Fires 17 Immigration Court Judges Across 10 States, Including Illinois, Union Says: The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents immigration court judges as well as other professionals, said in a news release that 15 judges were fired “without cause” on Friday and another two on Monday. The union said they were working in courts in 10 different states across the country — California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia. “It’s outrageous and against the public interest that at the same time Congress has authorized 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause,” said the union’s President Matt Biggs. “This is nonsensical. The answer is to stop firing and start hiring.”

* WTTW | How Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Could Impact the Illinois Farming Industry: “They are angry, they are scared, they are feeling that their business is being attacked,” said Maggie Rivera, CEO and president of the Illinois Migrant Council. Nationally, construction and agriculture workforces had the highest shares of undocumented workers as of 2022, according to the American Immigration Council. Nearly 14% of people employed in the construction industry are undocumented, compared to 15.1% in the agriculture sector and 7.6% in the hospitality sector.

* Tribune | ‘We’re tired of this’: Cicero residents demand action from town president after Latina aunt stopped by federal agents: Vanessa Mendoza, an early childhood educator in Cicero, was gathering materials for her classroom in late June when she paused to look at Facebook. What she saw shocked her. Posted on the social media site was a video of her aunt, Rocío, being pulled over by unidentified agents driving black vehicles who questioned her citizenship — despite her legal status to be in the United States. The agents did not specify why they pulled Rocío over or which agency they were affiliated with, Mendoza, 32, who grew up in Cicero, said at a news conference outside the town hall Thursday morning. After Rocío showed identification, she was not arrested or detained, her niece added. “It was either a legal stop or maybe, I don’t want to say, they were targeting her for being Latina,” she said.