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IL TRUST Act

Last updated: April 2025

By: Nina Sedeño, Senior Immigration Policy Analyst

The IL TRUST Act became law in 2017 with support from a broad and diverse coalition, including the business and law enforcement communities. The Act limits state and local police from participating in federal immigration enforcement.1

What does the TRUST Act do?

  • State and local police cannot stop, search, arrest, or detain someone based solely on their immigration or citizenship status.
  • State and local police cannot comply with immigration detainers2 and warrants unless they are signed by a judge.

Why is the TRUST Act important?

  • Public safety is prioritized through fostering trust between immigrants and the police officers.
    • A 2013 UIC survey study found that 44 percent of Latinos were less likely to contact police officers if they had been a victim of a crime because they feared that police officers would use the interaction as an opportunity to inquire into their immigration status or that of people they know.
  • Studies have shown that communities with policies like the TRUST Act experience lower crime and unemployment rates.

What is the Ilinois Way Forward Act?

In 2021, Governor Pritzker signed the Illinois Way Forward Act to strengthen the TRUST Act through a number of additions, including but not limited to:

  • Prohibiting state or local governments from signing contracts with the federal government to detain immigrants, effectively closing all detention centers in the state.
  • Prohibiting officials from asking about the citizenship or immigration status of an individual in custody, unless required by federal law.
  • Authorizing the Attorney General to conduct investigations into violations of the Act.

The Forum acknowledges the lead sponsors of this legislation, State Senator John J. Cullerton and State Representative Emanuel Chris Welch, the dozens of cosponsors in the state Legislature and the non-profit and community-based organizations across Illinois that made up the broad and diverse coalition that supported and ultimately passed the Illinois TRUST Act.

For more information or questions, please contact Nina Sedeño, Senior Immigration Policy Analyst at nsedeno@latinopolicyforum.org

Endnotes

  1. The TRUST Act does not stop ICE from operating in the State of Illinois. ↩︎
  2. An immigration detainer is a tool used by ICE to instruct federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to detain potentially deportable individuals for up to 48 business hours beyond the time they otherwise would have been released. Detainers are only requests made by ICE; compliance is voluntary. Further, the presence of a detainer is not indicative of an individual’s immigration status. ↩︎
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