Illinois Senate President Don Harmon is not someone known to wear his heart on his sleeve.
But on Oct. 29, Harmon stood before his colleagues as they prepared to vote in committee to send a bill he had sponsored to the senate floor for a full vote. The legislation would give Illinois citizens legal recourse when they are abused by federal law enforcement, and Harmon got a bit emotional as he urged its passage.
“I am distraught and frightened,” Harmon said. “I never thought I’d live in a world where masked federal employees, brandishing military-style weapons, would jump out of unmarked vans to kidnap and disappear people — U.S. citizens.”
While federal agents have repeatedly labelled their enforcement actions as an attempt to arrest and deport the “worst of the worst” illegal immigrants, primarily those with prior criminal convictions or outstanding warrants, they have also routinely arrested people with no criminal record, including minors, at times for reasons having nothing to do with their citizenship or immigration status.
“Masks might conceal their faces, but they can’t hide the constitutional abuses we’ve seen daily,” Harmon said. “This gives the growing number of victims a clear, legal path to go after the abusers and hold them accountable.”
The bill passed the Senate 40-18. About an hour later the House passed the legislation 75-32. It is now headed to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk to await his signature to become law. The new law would allow Illinois residents to bring civil actions against any person who deprives them of their constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, or Section 2 or Section 6 of Article 1 of the Illinois Constitution.
Harmon said the bill was a collaboration with House lawmakers, the state attorney general’s office and the governor. Senate Democrats said in a press release that the law would “codify long-standing common law protections to ensure parties, witnesses, and their family members can access the justice system without fear of civil arrest.”
Individuals who believe their rights were violated by federal immigration agents will have the right to sue officers for knowingly violating the state or U.S. Constitution during civil immigration enforcement, for false imprisonment or unlawful detention.
It would create a 1,000-foot safe zone around courthouses, including parking facilities and surrounding streets. Violations would carry civil damages for false imprisonment. Advocates say this is needed to avoid disruptions to court activities.
Federal law enforcement officers who arrest individuals improperly at or near a courthouse would face civil damages for false imprisonment and $10,000 in statutory damages, under the new law. A judge can also issue an order preventing arrest under the provision.
Illinois Senate Democrats said on their website that the bill “allows courts to award punitive damages based on the severity of the defendant’s conduct, with particularly egregious factors including wearing masks to conceal identity (excluding legitimate health or tactical purposes), failing to identify as law enforcement, not using body cameras, operating vehicles with obscured or out-of-state plates, and deploying crowd-control weapons like pepper spray or rubber bullets.”
The bill would also bolster protections by “amending the Illinois Whistleblower Act to shield anyone who reports violations of this new law from retaliation, encouraging individuals to come forward when they witness constitutional rights being infringed.”
Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, who represents much of the Austin neighborhood and numerous western suburbs including Broadview, echoed Harmon’s concerns, saying, “What we’re seeing isn’t just happening somewhere else: it’s happening right here.”
“When federal agents operate with masks and unmarked vehicles, when they turn hospitals into hunting grounds and schools into sites of fear, they aren’t just violating the law — they’re violating our most sacred values,” said Lightford. “This legislation is a shield for the vulnerable and a warning to those who think they can operate above our constitution.”
Harmon said he expects the bill to face legal challenges, but “That doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.”
“I’m prepared for this law to be challenged, but I think we still have an obligation to try to do something,” Harmon, of Oak Park, told a committee hearing in Springfield Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-41) of Downers Grove said that’s sure to happen, saying, “You are … teeing this up for the Supreme Court to set this aside. You’re actually making it easy on them.”
The bill that passed recently is not the first time Harmon has led an effort to respond to perceived federal law enforcement overreach.
In 2019 Harmon sponsored House Bill 1637, the Keep Illinois Families Together Act in the Senate. That law prevents local law enforcement officers from acting as deputized immigration enforcement agents and prohibits local police from detaining someone solely on the basis of their immigration status.
“With the toxic rhetoric surrounding immigration coming from the White House, people in my district are scared,” Harmon said at the time.