Journalists are being encouraged to contact Northwestern University professors for insights on the Department of Justice's lawsuit against Illinois' sanctuary laws. The lawsuit alleges that local and state laws conflict with federal immigration law.
Jacqueline Stevens, a political science professor at Northwestern, criticized the lawsuit for lacking specific examples of interference with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. She stated, "The Department of Justice lawsuit is oddly silent on any specific individuals or locations that interfered with their efforts to pursue ICE detainers or obtain information. The broad complaints about Illinois and its localities enforcing policies vis-a-vis its own employees and protecting their budgets and residents from the consequences of unlawful ICE actions appear to repeat legal arguments courts swatted down during the first Trump administration." Stevens is also a founding director of the Deportation Research Clinic at Northwestern's Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.
Elisa Jácome, an assistant professor of economics at Northwestern, highlighted potential negative impacts on community safety due to deportation policies. She explained, "While deportation efforts are often framed as a way to reduce crime, these policies can erode trust between police and the communities they serve. Our research shows that increased deportations not only made victims less likely to report crimes to the police but also worsened public safety overall." Jácome's research focuses on immigration and criminal justice systems.
For further legal perspectives, journalists are directed to review a media advisory released on February 6.