Students cheer during a school walkout to protest federal immigration enforcement at the state Capitol on Jan. 14 in St. Paul, Minn.
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The deaths of Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti have shaken up the conversation about how states should respond to immigration crackdowns across the country.
Some Democratic leaders have vowed to hold federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers accountable — even charging them with crimes.
After an ICE surge in Chicago last year, state leaders established the Illinois Accountability Commission to collect evidence from citizens about ICE’s actions, including the agency’s leadership, and to make accountability recommendations.
The chair of the commission and former federal judge, Rubén Castillo, says the group is having conversations with local law enforcement to “suggest prosecutions that should be coming as we speak.”
Prosecutors in Philadelphia and California say they are also considering criminal charges against federal agents.
Can states charge federal agents with crimes?
White House officials have raised the idea of agents having immunity when they’re on the job, but legal experts say that is not the case.
“There is no structural or blanket barrier to states bringing a criminal prosecution against federal officials,” says Harrison Stark, an attorney who works with the University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative.
“If a state believes that a federal official has violated state criminal law,” Stark says, “the state has broad Investigatory Powers to collect evidence, to explore that criminal action, basically in the same way they would against anybody else.”
And it’s not just about criminal prosecutions; Illinois has a law on the books that allows people to sue federal agents in civil court. The Trump administration has sued to block the law, saying it violates federal powers. Democratic lawmakers in New York, California, Colorado and Oregon are considering similar laws.
Republican-led states lean into enforcement
After Trump took office last year, many red states jumped to support the president’s mass deportation efforts.
In Tennessee, the state provides grants to law enforcement agencies that work with ICE. Since that was passed last year, the number of sheriff’s offices and police departments that have signed a formal agreement with ICE has skyrocketed.
Now, Republican lawmakers in the state are considering making that voluntary program involuntary as part of a bigger immigration package. Kentucky lawmakers are moving in the same direction.
This year, Tennessee is piloting legislation made in partnership with Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, and the White House.
One of the policies would make it impossible for someone without legal status to buy a car, earn a nursing certificate or receive any government benefits. (Many government benefits are already off-limits to people living in the country illegally.) “We’re not spending taxpayer dollars on you unless you’re in jail” is how Cameron Sexton, the Republican Tennessee House speaker, explained it when announcing the legislation.
The Indiana Senate last week passed a measure that would tighten requirements for local agencies, including universities, to cooperate with immigration enforcement. Last month, New Hampshire took a page out of Tennessee’s book by banning sanctuary cities, meaning cities can’t impede federal immigration officers from carrying out their duties.
Blue states limiting ICE cooperation
Some Democratic-led states are considering mask bans or ID requirements for federal agents. California’s law on that is currently tied up in court.
Illinois has a law limiting police cooperation with ICE that lawmakers say they want to expand this year. Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced legislation to do that, too.
Maine has set up a tip line to report ICE activity and abuses.
Democrats in other states, including Massachusetts, are looking at creating “safe zones” around courthouses, schools, churches and hospitals where agents are not allowed to make arrests.
In a couple of weeks, the Minnesota Legislature will meet for the first time since the ICE surge there. Democrats say they’re ready to pass a bill that would enable Minnesotans to sue federal agents, and changes to help renters affected by immigration enforcement avoid eviction.
While Democrats control the Minnesota Senate, the state House is split between the two parties, meaning Democrats will need some Republican support to pass any new proposals.
Mawa Iqbal is a statehouse reporter for WBEZ and Marianna Bacallao is the power and equity reporter for WPLN.
