CHICAGO — Illinois elected officials in the Latino Caucus and allied advocates are seeking to connect families of people arrested at courthouses with civil rights attorneys for potential legal action, Democratic state Rep. Lilian Jimenez of Chicago said Wednesday.

The call for affected families came months after Illinois passed a law largely banning civil immigration enforcement against people involved in courthouse proceedings. It also coincided with an announcement that lawmakers in several other states are pursuing similar legislation that would make it easier for people to sue immigration enforcement agents, following Illinois’ lead.

“We want to make sure those laws are not just pieces of paper but they’re actually enforceable,” Jimenez said after the news conference.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the measure in December 2025, banning federal agents from making certain arrests near courthouses and easing the path for people to sue if they think their rights were violated during civil immigration arrests.

Even with the law in place, immigration agents have continued to appear around Cook County courthouses, the Chicago Tribune has previously reported, citing a tracker maintained by the Cook County public defender’s office.

“We continue to make a call out for anybody who has been impacted. There are a number of organizations that are ready to support and file those lawsuits on behalf of those family members,” Jimenez said. Latino elected officials at the city, county and state levels, as well as groups including the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, are leading the effort, she said, encouraging affected families to call the ICIRR hotline.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously called courthouse arrests “common sense.”

“It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be,” the DHS spokesperson said in a statement to the Tribune.

Rapid responders to immigration enforcement and state lawmakers have reported that Chicago saw an escalation in immigration enforcement in recent weeks.

Advocates argue that the presence of immigration agents can have a chilling effect on the criminal justice system, discouraging victims and defendants from participating in cases out of fear of arrest. Agents have been reported in or near the domestic violence courthouse at 555 W. Harrison St. at least 22 times since the beginning of the year, the Tribune noted earlier this month.

Lawmakers from states including Minnesota, Colorado and Utah gathered at a South Loop event space Wednesday as part of what they described as a nationwide push to pass legislation making it easier for their constituents to sue over constitutional violations by immigration agents, mirroring the law Illinois passed last year.

States including Vermont, Connecticut and Maryland have also passed similar laws, according to local news outlets.

Five initial lawsuits against immigration enforcement agents in Illinois were filed earlier this month, Democratic state Rep. Norma Hernandez of Melrose Park said.

“We are looking forward to more,” she said.

States have developed a “playbook” for introducing or passing such legislation nationwide, said EJ Juárez, executive director of the State Innovation Exchange, which aims to pass progressive state policies nationally.

“Federal law does not exempt you from the consequences of enacting violence and terror in communities in this country,” Juárez said.

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