The lawsuit asks the court to immediately end a number of laws and ordinances it says thwart federal immigration authorities.

The U.S. Justice Department sued the state of Illinois and city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing the Democratic strongholds of unlawfully interfering with Republican President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and seeking a court order blocking so-called sanctuary laws.

Local law enforcement agencies play a limited role in immigration law, but that might change during Trump's promised mass deportation operation.