States weigh laws to circumvent ICE immunity; Illinois’ to be tested in
court
[July 31, 2026]
By Sean Reed | The Center Square
(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.
[to top of second column]
|
An ICE officer detains a handcuffed man in Los Angeles on June 12,
2025. Photo: Tia Dufour / U.S. Department of Homeland Security /
Public Domain
“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. |
