Moeller Passes Legislation to Address Unaccountable Civil Immigration Enforcement

ELGIN, Ill. — State Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, passed a sweeping civil rights and community-protection bill during the state’s fall legislative session that promises to safeguard immigrant families and bolster due process in the face of civil law enforcement actions unprecedented in scale and method.

“For weeks now, we’ve seen something that was supposed to be impossible in America, relegated to the pages of dystopian fiction—black masked, paramilitary stormtroopers roaming the streets, attacking people, kidnapping them and their loved ones, sowing chaos, terror and intimidation,” Moeller said. “In particular, their incursions into places that should especially be safe—courthouses, hospitals and, shockingly, even schools and daycares—are egregious. We had to act, and we did.”

House Bill 1312 strengthens constitutional protections across Illinois by creating clear guardrails for civil immigration enforcement and ensuring that essential community spaces—hospitals, courthouses, universities, and licensed daycare centers—remain safe and accessible to all residents, regardless of immigration status. The bill further empowers individuals to seek justice when their constitutional rights, including those under the Fourth Amendment, are violated.

Moeller’s own community has experienced a great deal of chaos caused by agencies conducting aggressive and legally-questionable civil enforcement operations, leading to both main municipalities Moeller represents—Elgin and Carpentersville—passing a resolution and an ordinance, respectively, banning the use of municipal property by the agencies.

Moeller’s legislation creates new pathways for accountability, allowing individuals to bring civil actions against civil law enforcement who violate their constitutional rights while engaging in civil immigration enforcement. The legislation also establishes policies that ensure state-licensed facilities and public campuses respond lawfully and responsibly to immigration activities, while protecting the privacy and dignity of those they serve.

“While there’s only so much states can do to directly check an out-of-control administration, we’re using every lever and every tool at our disposal,” Moeller said. “In Illinois, people should not be afraid to attend a court date, see a doctor when they’re sick or injured or pick their kids up from school. Our legislation makes it safer for people being targeted by the bullies trying to force their agenda down Americans’ throats. Other states are competing to see who can roll over the fastest. Not us. Not today. Not anymore.”

House Bill 1312 now moves to the Governor’s desk.