CHICAGO — The Trump administration filed suit in a Chicago federal court Thursday, alleging that sanctuary laws in Illinois, Chicago and Cook County are obstructing the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration policies.

The lawsuit names Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, both Democrats, along with Superintendent Larry Snelling of the Chicago Police Department and other local elected officials in the nation’s third-largest city. It is believed to be the new Donald Trump administration’s first legal action against state and local officials to try to make them provide more assistance in federal immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit asserts that local and state officials’ lack of cooperation with federal enforcement of immigration laws has resulted in “countless criminals being released into Chicago” who should have been subject to deportation.

Illinois and Chicago have laws in place to limit their cooperation with federal agencies’ efforts to deport immigrants living in the country without legal permission.

— The New York Times