Skokie, IL Immigration Policy: Sanctuary Policy Preemption (2026)
Key Facts
- Adopted
- Ord. No. 17-3-C-4274, March 6, 2017
- Latest amendment
- Ord. No. 25-11-C-4760, Nov. 3, 2025
- Detainer policy
- no assistance without valid criminal warrant
- Village facilities
- barred as ICE staging/operations base
- State authority cited
- Illinois TRUST Act, 5 ILCS 805
Summary
The Village of Skokie bars its own staff and officials from assisting federal immigration enforcement: no citizenship-status registries, no immigration detainers or custody transfers, no stops based solely on status, and no conditioning of Village services on immigration status, codified at Chapter 58, Article I.
No Village staff, elected or appointed officials, or any other party acting on behalf of the Village will coerce, including using threats of deportation, or engage in verbal abuse of any person based upon the person's or the person's family members' actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status. ... The Village shall not detain any individual based on their citizenship or immigration status unless pursuant to an outstanding criminal warrant. ... A.Prohibited Activities. The Village of Skokie shall not:(a)Assist with immigration enforcement by aiding or complying with immigration detainers, administrative warrants or custody transfers, or providing access to Village facilities, for investigative or immigration enforcement purposes; including use as a staging or debriefing area, processing location, operations base, or other support for civil immigration enforcement without a valid criminal warrant.( ... c)Stop, search, arrest or detain an individual based solely on immigration status.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 205 | Zoning: Supplement 89).
Full Breakdown
Chapter 58, Article I of the Skokie Village Code, first adopted by Ord. No. 17-3-C-4274 on March 6, 2017 and expanded by Ord. No. 25-3-C-4739 (March 17, 2025) and Ord. No. 25-11-C-4760 (November 3, 2025), bars Village staff, elected or appointed officials, and anyone acting on the Village's behalf from participating in federal immigration enforcement. Sec. 58-1 forbids helping create or maintain any registry of individuals based on ancestry, national origin or religion. Sec. 58-2 bars coercion, including threats of deportation, or verbal abuse based on a person's or family member's actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status.
Sec. 58-3 forbids requesting or investigating a person's citizenship or immigration status and requires removal of Village form fields asking for it unless a statute, federal regulation or court order requires the data. Sec. 58-4 guarantees Village services and benefits regardless of immigration status absent a legal mandate otherwise. Sec. 58-5 bars detaining anyone based on citizenship or immigration status unless there is an outstanding criminal warrant. Sec. 58-6 bars accepting requests from other agencies to support immigration enforcement operations, including supplying information on people who may be targeted or being present to assist an operation.
The 2025 amendment, Sec. 58-8, adopted under the state Illinois TRUST Act (5 ILCS 805) and the VOICES Act (5 ILCS 825/1), bars using Village facilities such as buildings, parking lots, garages or vacant lots as a staging, debriefing or operations base for civil immigration enforcement without a valid criminal warrant, and bars stopping, searching, arresting or detaining anyone based solely on immigration status.
Violations & Fines
Article I does not spell out a separate criminal fine; it operates as a directive binding Village staff, elected and appointed officials and anyone acting on the Village's behalf, with the Corporation Counsel responsible for enforcement against Village-side noncompliance. Sec. 58-7 clarifies the ordinance does not stop the Village from sending or receiving a person's country-of-citizenship or immigration-status statement to or from another agency, since Village staff are instructed federal law does not allow that prohibition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Skokie call itself a sanctuary city?
Can Skokie police hold someone on an ICE detainer alone?
Can federal agents use Village property to stage an immigration raid?
Does the ordinance stop Village staff from ever sharing immigration status information?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Skokie
Compare Skokie to another location·View the Illinois immigration policy overview
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Sanctuary Policy Preemption in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Cook County handle sanctuary policy preemption.