Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, typically reserved, showed rare emotion on October 29 as he stood before his colleagues urging them to support a bill he sponsored — one that would give Illinois citizens the right to take legal action against federal law enforcement officers who violate their constitutional rights.
“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.”
Federal agents have often described their immigration enforcement operations as efforts to capture “the worst of the worst” — undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions or outstanding warrants. However, they’ve also been accused of arresting people with no criminal record, including minors, and detaining individuals for reasons unrelated to immigration status.
“Masks might conceal their faces, but they can’t hide the constitutional abuses we’ve seen daily,” Harmon said. “This gives victims a clear, legal path to go after their abusers and hold them accountable.”
The Senate passed the bill 40-18, and about an hour later, the House approved it 75-32. The measure now awaits Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature. Once signed, the law will allow Illinois residents to sue anyone who deprives them of their constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution or Sections 2 and 6 of Article 1 of the Illinois Constitution.
Harmon said the legislation resulted from collaboration with House lawmakers, the attorney general’s office, and the governor. According to Senate Democrats, the law “codifies long-standing protections ensuring that parties, witnesses, and their families can access the justice system without fear of civil arrest.”
Under the new law, individuals whose rights are violated by federal immigration agents during enforcement actions may sue for false imprisonment or unlawful detention. The legislation also establishes a 1,000-foot safe zone around courthouses, including parking lots and surrounding streets. Any violation could result in civil penalties and $10,000 in statutory damages for false imprisonment. Judges may also issue protective orders preventing further arrests in those zones.
Courts will have the authority to award punitive damages based on the severity of the misconduct, especially when officers wear masks to conceal identity, fail to identify themselves as law enforcement, avoid body cameras, use obscured license plates, or deploy crowd-control weapons like pepper spray or rubber bullets.
Additionally, the bill amends the Illinois Whistleblower Act, protecting anyone who reports violations of this law from retaliation, encouraging citizens to come forward when they witness constitutional rights being infringed.
Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, who represents much of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and several western suburbs, echoed Harmon’s concerns.
“What we’re seeing isn’t just happening somewhere else — it’s happening right here,” Lightford said. “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. This legislation is a shield for the vulnerable and a warning to those who think they can operate above our constitution.”
Harmon acknowledged the bill will likely face legal challenges. “I’m prepared for this law to be challenged, but I think we still have an obligation to do something,” he said during a committee hearing in Springfield.
Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-41) of Downers Grove agreed that the bill would likely face scrutiny, saying, “You are teeing this up for the Supreme Court to set this aside. You’re actually making it easy on them.”
This is not Harmon’s first attempt to curb what he sees as federal overreach. In 2019, he sponsored the Keep Illinois Families Together Act, which prohibits local police from acting as federal immigration agents or detaining individuals solely based on immigration status.
“With the toxic rhetoric surrounding immigration coming from the White House, people in my district are scared,” Harmon said at the time.
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