Illinois

Through four games this season, Jayden Maiava has done just about all he could to dispel any lingering doubts about him as USC’s starting quarterback.

Maiava is averaging 12.7 yards per pass attempt this season, higher than any other quarterback in college football. His completion percentage has risen more than 11 points since last season (to 70.8%). He has thrown nine passing touchdowns, plus added four on the ground, and has yet to turn the ball over after throwing nine picks during the same number of starts in 2024.

Granted, during the Trojans’ 4-0 start, Maiava has yet to face a pass defense that ranks inside the top 100 in passing yards allowed per attempt. Nor has he or anyone on USC’s offense faced much in the way of adversity. The Trojans have scored more than 52 points per game and won their first four by an average margin of 32.

But the level of competition ratchets up this week. Each of USC’s next three opponents are ranked in the top 25, while three of its next four games come on the road, beginning Saturday with No. 23 Illinois, which was ranked in the top 10 before it was trounced by Indiana last weekend.

If USC has any hope of making the College Football Playoff, it’ll need Maiava to prove his fast start in September wasn’t a fluke. USC coach Lincoln Riley doesn’t want Maiava to change much from his first four weeks.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing,” Riley said.

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava evades a tackle attempt by Michigan State defensive back Armorion Smith at the Coliseum on Sept. 20.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

“He’s been steady. He’s been in a good head space. There will be different challenges. You’re gonna have mistakes here and there. That’s where your experience is going to show up. We just need him to be the steady, efficient leader he’s been and keep playing really good, efficient ball. I think he’s in a really good head space to do that.”

Illinois hasn’t had much success rattling capable quarterbacks this season. Duke’s Darian Mensah threw for 356 yards and two touchdowns in Week 2, while Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza dropped five scores on the Illini secondary last Saturday. Injuries have only made matters worse for the Illini secondary as it lost All-Big Ten slot corner Xavier Scott to a potential season-ending injury, have one safety in concussion protocol and another cornerback in a walking boot. Two other defensive backs also exited Illinois’ last game with some sort of injury.

The stage is set for Maiava to make a major statement Saturday, in one of the marquee matchups of the week. Here’s what else you should watch for when USC plays to Illinois.

As USC enters a critical stretch of its conference slate, it’s unclear if it’ll have its star wideout or starting left tackle ready to play.

Junior wideout Ja’Kobi Lane did return to practice on Tuesday after sitting out last Saturday’s win over Michigan State with an upper body injury he suffered the week before. But junior offensive tackle Elijah Paige was not seen entering or leaving USC’s practice field.

USC coach Lincoln Riley declined to provide an update on Lane or Paige on Tuesday and instead referred reporters to the Big Ten’s availability report, which is released two hours before kickoff every Saturday.

Without Lane, who is averaging almost 27 yards per catch this season, USC was forced to count on senior Jaden Richardson, who had just one catch coming into last Saturday’s game. He doubled that output against Michigan State and would presumably play a similar role if Lane is unable to play.

“He’s really created his own value here,” Riley said of Richardson. “He can play any of the receiver positions in our offense. Just does a lot of things well.”

Lane came out for early warm-ups last Saturday in shorts and a sweatshirt and appeared as if he’d try to play. But when the team returned in full pads, Lane came out of the tunnel several minutes later in street clothes.

It’s not clear how close Lane was to playing then or how seriously USC was actually considering the possibility. After the game, Riley described his injury as only “inconclusive.”

USC has a bye next week after its trip to Illinois.

“[It] was a little bit unexpected,” Riley said of Lane’s injury. “I don’t think it’ll be super long, but at the same time, I can’t sit here today and say for sure he’s going to play next week or in the coming weeks.”

Paige left Saturday’s game early in the second quarter and never returned, causing a chain reaction down USC’s offensive line. Paige was replaced by Justin Tauanuu, who shifted from left to right tackle. Tobias Raymond then moved from left guard to right tackle, while Micah Banuelos took over at left guard.

“These guys take a lot of reps at different positions throughout the week and really have throughout camp,” Riley said. “Some of the position flex we’ve built up at that position really paid off.”

Illinois is dealing with its own injury issues, but on defense. In a blowout loss to Indiana last week, Illinois was without most of its starting secondary. This Saturday, it definitely won’t have All-Big Ten cornerback Xavier Scott, who’s out for the season, and it could also be without a starting safety who is in concussion protocol. Two other key cornerbacks have yet to practice, but Illinois coach Bret Bielema expressed hope that they’d be cleared by midweek.

Even without its top red zone receiver and its steadiest offensive linemen, USC’s offense didn’t show many signs of slowing down last Saturday. It still piled up 517 yards of offense.

Sept. 17 (UPI) — Massachusetts says that all citizens should be vaccinated to protect against the COVID-19 virus as the Bay State will now force insurance providers to cover vaccines approved by the state.

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released its COVID-19 vaccine guidelines through 2026 that suggested all state residents get a COVID-19 shot, including children ages 6, and particularly those at higher risk of exposure, with a weakened immune system or pregnant.

“We are not going to let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy take away your ability to make your own health care decisions,” said Gov. Maura Healey.

The decision by Massachusetts came as the Food and Drug Administration under U.S. Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. approved in August its most recent round of COVID shots but federally limited their use.

Healey said earlier this month that Massachusetts will begin to require health insurance companies to cover state-recommended vaccines and became the first U.S. state to do so, followed by Illinois in an executive order Friday by Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat.

Executive actions in Illinois and Massachusetts could be the first in a series of other similar acts by governors to create a coalition to set vaccine policy separate of federal authorities.

“Massachusetts will continue to lead with science and protect access to life-saving vaccines,” Healey, 54, said Wednesday in a statement.

Notably, the Healey administration’s plan was backed by the nonprofit entities Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans.

The newly issued state guidelines stand in stark contrast to federal recommendations by the Trump administration and Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

Massachusetts health officials said the state acted on an “extensive review of current scientific data” consistent with widely respected groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The commonwealth’s Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein reiterated Wednesday that vaccines remain the “most effective public health intervention of the past century,” adding that vaccine use has “saved millions of lives.”

Goldstein stated its guidelines were “grounded in evidence and science, driven by equity and shaped by the lived experiences” of Massachusetts’ 351 communities.

On Monday, Healey called Kennedy a “walking conspiracy theorist who is denying people vaccines and the healthcare they want and need” during a speech to Massachusetts Democrats as she hailed her administration’s new vaccine coverage mandate for insurance conglomerates.

A recent study indicated that in 2022 and 2023 more than 1.5 million “missing Americans” died due to COVID-19 in excessive deaths that could have been averted.

But on Wednesday Healey said the state was taking this action “so the people of Massachusetts know that you will continue to be able to get the vaccines you want and need — no matter what happens at the federal level.”

Also on Wednesday, ex-CDC Director Susan Minaret appeared on Capitol Hill to testify in front of lawmakers over her termination by Kennedy due to allegations that she refused to allow all decisions to be approved by political staff.

Sept. 3 (UPI) — The Justice Department is suing Illinois over state laws that grant in-state tuition benefits and financial assistance to migrants, accusing the Prairie State of discriminating against Americans.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, is the latest from the Trump administration targeting laws aiding migrants in receiving tuition benefits, and comes as President Donald Trump‘s feud with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker continues to deepen.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

“This Department of Justice has already filed multiple lawsuits to prevent U.S. students from being treated like second-class citizens — Illinois now joins the list of states where we are relentlessly fighting to vindicate federal law.”

According to the lawsuit, Illinois laws discriminate against out-of-state Americans who are not eligible for the tuition benefits being offered to some undocumented students in the state.

The lawsuit targets two Illinois laws: the Illinois Public Act of 2003, which permits certain undocumented students with residency for purposes of receiving in-state tuition benefits; the Illinois DREAM Act of 2011, which provides scholarships, college saving plans and prepaid tuition programs to undocumented students, paid through private donations.

Federal prosecutors allege that they violate a federal law, enacted as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, that states an undocumented person in the United States “shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state … for any postsecondary education benefit” unless a U.S. citizen is also eligible for the benefit.

“This court should put an end to this discrimination against Americans that is a blatant and ongoing violation of federal law,” the prosecutors said in the lawsuit.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has led a renewed crackdown on immigration, seeking to conduct mass deportations and limiting the protections of migrants already in the country.

This is the fifth lawsuit since June challenging state laws offering in-state tuition or tuition benefits to migrants that are unavailable to out-of-state Americans.

The lawsuits follow President Donald Trump signing several immigration-related executive orders including “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens,” which directed the attorney general to identify laws “favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens,” including “State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens.”

Early last month, the Justice Department sued Oklahoma for providing eligible undocumented migrants with in-state tuition benefits, with similar suits filed against Kentucky and Minnesota.

In June, prosecutors filed a suit in Texas, with the Republican-led state siding with the federal government, and the two reached an agreement to halt the Lone Star State’s law on giving undocumented migrants in-state tuition benefits.

The lawsuit was also announced on the same day that the Republican president vowed to send National Guard troops to Chicago in a crime crackdown, as he had done to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Pritzker, a Democrat and a staunch Trump critic, responded by saying there is no emergency warranting the deployment of troops in the city.

“These efforts are not about fighting crime or making communities safer,” Pritzker said in a statement.

“This is about Donald Trump testing his power and producing political drama to cover up his own corruption.”

The mayor of Chicago struck back Saturday against what he called the “out-of-control” Trump administration’s plan to surge federal officers into the nation’s third-largest city, which could take place within days.

The Chicago Police Department will be barred from helping federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement or any related patrols, traffic stops and checkpoints during the surge, according to an executive order signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Johnson directed all city departments to guard the constitutional rights of Chicago residents “amidst the possibility of imminent militarized immigration or National Guard deployment by the federal government.”

When asked during a news conference about federal agents who are presumably “taking orders,” Johnson replied: “Yeah, and I don’t take orders from the federal government.”

Johnson also blocked Chicago police from wearing face coverings to hide their identities, as most federal immigration officers have done since President Trump launched his crackdown.

The federal surge into Chicago could start as early as Friday and last about 30 days, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not been made public.

The officials described the immigration crackdown as part of a larger effort to expand the federal law enforcement presence in major Democratic-run cities, as it did earlier this year in Los Angeles.

On Saturday, Trump commented about Chicago crime and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on his social media site: “Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME. He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming! MAGA. President DJT”

Unlike the recent federal takeover of policing in Washington, D.C., the Chicago operation is not expected to rely on the National Guard or military and is focused exclusively on immigration, rather than being cast as part of a broad campaign against crime, the officials said.

Chicago is home to a large immigrant population, and both the city and the state of Illinois have some of the country’s strongest rules against cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts. That has often put the city and state at odds with the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.

Johnson’s order builds on the city’s longtime stance, saying neither Chicago nor Illinois officials have sought or been consulted on the federal presence and demanding Trump stand down on those plans.

The mayor had harsh words for Trump during his news conference, accusing the president of “behaving outside the bounds of the Constitution” and seeking a federal presence in Democratic cities as retribution against his political rivals.

“He is reckless and out of control,” Johnson said. “He’s the biggest threat to our democracy that we’ve experienced in the history of our country.”

In response, the White House insisted the potential flood of federal agents was about “cracking down on crime.”

“If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities would be much safer,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email Saturday.

Critics have noted that Trump, while espousing a tough-on-crime push, is the only felon ever to occupy the White House.

Beck writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — A federal judge in Illinois has rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton‘s request to enforce arrest warrants for Democrats who fled the Lone Star State earlier this month to block Republican redistricting plans.

Paxton has filed a slew of lawsuits in the nearly two weeks since state Democrats left Texas early this month to deny Republicans quorum to pass controversial redistricting maps that will give the GOP five extra seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Democrats went to Democratic strongholds, including Illinois, and Texas state House Speaker Dustin Burrows issued civil arrest warrants to force their return to Texas. On Aug. 7, Paxton and Burrows filed a lawsuit seeking Illinois to enforce the return of the Democratic lawmakers.

In his ruling Wednesday, Illinois Judge Scott Larson rejected the Texans’ request, stating it is outside his court’s jurisdiction to compel the Democrats’ return.

“This Illinois circuit court, under a petition to show cause, does not have the inherent power to direct Illinois law enforcement officers, or to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, or any officers appointed by her, to execute Texas civil Quorum Warrants upon nonresidents temporarily located in the State of Illinois,” Larson said in his ruling, which was obtained by Democracy Docket and a portion of which was published on BluSky.

The warrants issued by the Texas House of Representatives are “geographically limited,” Larson said.

Paxton and Burrows have yet to comment on the ruling, which marks a blow in their efforts to compel Democrats to return to the state.

Congressional redistricting generally occurs every decade following the publication of U.S. Census Bureau data. Texas has taken the unusual step to redraw its maps at the urging of President Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections next year The maps are expected to produce an additional five GOP districts in the U.S. House of Representatives where the Republicans hold a narrow 219 to 212 majority.

Critics and Democrats accuse the Republicans of conducting a power grab in an attempt to rig control over the ongressional branch, and have backed their Texas colleagues who have left their home state to prevent the passing of the maps during the special session.

Democrats in other states have also come to their support, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to respond by redistricting his state to produce an additional five Democratic seats to neutralize those GOP seats being created in Texas.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will begin trying to remove Democratic lawmakers from office Monday if they don’t return after dozens of them left the state in a last-resort attempt to block redrawn U.S. House maps that President Trump wants before the 2026 midterm elections.

The revolt by the state House Democrats, many of whom went to Illinois or New York on Sunday, and Abbott giving them less than 24 hours to come home ratcheted up a widening fight over congressional maps that began in Texas but has drawn in Democratic governors who have floated the possibility of rushing to redraw their own state’s maps in retaliation. Their options, however, are limited.

At the center of the escalating impasse is Trump’s pursuit of adding five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas before next year that would bolster his party’s chances of preserving its slim U.S. House majority.

The new congressional maps drawn by Texas Republicans would create five new Republican-leaning seats. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats.

A vote on the proposed maps had been set for Monday in the Texas House of Representatives, but it cannot proceed if the majority of Democratic members deny a quorum by not showing up. After one group of Democrats landed in Chicago on Sunday, they were welcomed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, but declined to say how long they were prepared to stay out of Texas.

“We will do whatever it takes. What that looks like, we don’t know,” said state Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas House Democratic Caucus leader.

But legislative walkouts often only delay passage of a bill, including in 2021 when many of the same Texas House Democrats left the state for 38 days in protest of new voting restrictions. Once they returned, Republicans still wound up passing that measure.

Four years later, Abbott is taking a far more aggressive stance and swiftly warning Democrats that he will seek to remove them from office if they are not back when the House reconvenes Monday afternoon. He cited a non-binding 2021 legal opinion issued by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, which suggested a court could determine that a legislator had forfeited their office.

He also suggested the lawmakers may have committed felonies by raising money to help pay for fines they’d face.

“This truancy ends now,” Abbott said.

In response, House Democrats issued a four-word statement: “Come and take it.”

The state of the vote

Lawmakers can’t pass bills in the 150-member Texas House without at least two-thirds of them present. Democrats hold 62 of the seats in the majority-Republican chamber and at least 51 left the state, said Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus.

Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the chamber would still meet as planned on Monday afternoon.

“If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table. . .,” he posted on X.

Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate, said on X that Democrats who “try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”

Fines for not showing up

A refusal by Texas lawmakers to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders had the authority to “physically compel the attendance” of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served that year. Two years later, Republicans pushed through new rules that allow daily fines of $500 for lawmakers who don’t show up for work as punishment.

The quorum break will also delay votes on flood relief and new warning systems in the wake of last month’s catastrophic floods in Texas that killed at least 136 people. Democrats had called for votes on the flooding response before taking up redistricting and have criticized Republicans for not doing so.

Illinois hosts Texas lawmakers

Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender who has been one of Trump’s most outspoken critics during his second term, had been in quiet talks with Texas Democrats for weeks about offering support if they chose to leave the state to break quorum.

Last week, the governor hosted several Texas Democrats in Illinois to publicly oppose the redistricting effort, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom held a similar event in his own state.

Pritzker also met privately with Texas Democratic Chair Kendall Scudder in June to begin planning for the possibility that lawmakers would depart for Illinois if they did decide to break quorum to block the map, according to a source with direct knowledge who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“This is not just rigging the system in Texas, it’s about rigging the system against the rights of all Americans for years to come,” Pritzker said Sunday night.

Trump is looking to avoid a repeat of his first term, when Democrats flipped the House just two years into his presidency, and hopes the new Texas map will aid that effort. Trump officials have also looked at redrawing lines in other states.

Cappelletti and DeMillo write for the Associated Press. AP writer Nadia Lathan in Austin contributed to this report.

Aug. 4 (UPI) — Three Boeing defense plants face a strike as 3,200 hourly machinists walked off their jobs.

Members of the International Association of Machinists voted to strike at about 1 a.m. EDT Monday.

“3,200 highly-skilled IAM Union members at Boeing went on strike at midnight because enough is enough,” the union wrote on X.

IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Sam Cicinelli on Sunday urged a new contract for the workers.

“IAM District 837 members build the aircraft and defense systems that keep our country safe. They deserve nothing less than a contract that keeps their families secure and recognizes their unmatched expertise,” Cicinelli said.

The striking members work at facilities in St. Louis and St. Charles, Mo., and Mascoutah, Ill., the union said.

On July 27, they voted to reject a four-year contract proposal by the company.

“We’re disappointed our employees rejected an offer that featured 40% average wage growth and resolved their primary issue on alternative work schedules,” Boeing said in a statement on Sunday, titled “Last, best and final offer.” “We are prepared for a strike and have fully implemented our contingency plan to ensure our non-striking workforce can continue supporting our customers.”

The workers on strike build and maintain fighter jets, including the F-15 and F/A-18 models. They also build the T-7A Red Hawk trainer and the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueler. The F-47 stealth fighter jet, the Pentagon’s next-generation fighter plane, is planned to be built at a Boeing plant in the St. Louis area, though the company hasn’t said which plant will build it or when production will begin. Boeing also operates some nonunion plants in the area.

Boeing Defense, Space and Security unit has recorded nearly $11 billion in losses from late 2021 through the end of 2024. Pentagon contracts that made the company responsible for cost overruns, including two new Air Force One jets, are the main cause. But this year, the unit has made profits.

In the Boeing earnings call last week, CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company can weather the costs of the strike. He said it would be far less than the cost of last year’s strike of 33,000 commercial plane unit workers.

“The order of magnitude of this is much, much less than what we saw last fall,” Ortberg said. “I wouldn’t worry too much about the implications of the strike. We’ll manage our way through that.”

Democrats in the Texas House left the state Sunday in a last-resort bid to block new congressional maps sought by President Trump that would give Republicans a better chance of preserving their narrow U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.

The dramatic revolt came before the GOP-controlled House was set to vote Monday on the proposed maps, which would give Republicans five more winnable congressional seats. In response to Texas’ rare mid-decade political gerrymander, Democratic governors in other states have floated the possibility of redrawing their own maps in retaliation, but their options are limited.

Many of the Texas Democrats were bound for Illinois and a welcoming from Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender, who in recent weeks has offered them support. It was unclear how long they were prepared to stay out of Texas or whether the maneuver would succeed. Four years ago, House Democrats left Texas for 38 days in protest of new voting restrictions that still wound up passing once the holdout ended.

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.

Lawmakers can’t pass bills in the 150-member Texas House without at least two-thirds of them present. Democrats hold 62 of the seats in the Republican-majority chamber, and at least 51 were leaving the state, said Josh Rush Nisenson, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus. In addition to the Illinois group, five lawmakers headed to New York and another group went to Boston, Rush Nisenson said.

Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the chamber would meet as planned Monday afternoon.

“If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table,” he posted on X.

Republican Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate, said on X that Democrats who “try and run away like cowards should be found, arrested, and brought back to the Capitol immediately.”

A refusal by Texas lawmakers to show up is a civil violation of legislative rules. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2021 that House leaders had the authority to “physically compel the attendance” of missing members, but no Democrats were forcibly brought back to the state after warrants were served that year. Two years later, Republicans pushed through new rules that allow daily fines of $500 for lawmakers who don’t show up for work.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

The quorum break will also delay votes on flood relief and new warning systems in response to last month’s catastrophic floods in Texas that killed at least 136 people. Democrats had called for votes on the flooding response before taking up redistricting and have criticized Republicans for not doing so.

Texas Republicans last week unveiled their planned U.S. House map that would create five GOP-leaning seats. Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats.

Pritzker, who has been one of Trump’s most outspoken critics during his second term, had been in quiet talks with Texas Democrats for weeks about offering support if they chose to leave the state to break quorum.

Last week, the governor hosted several Texas Democrats in Illinois to publicly oppose the redistricting effort, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom held a similar event in his state.

Pritzker also met privately with Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder in June to begin planning for the possibility that lawmakers would depart for Illinois if they did decide to break quorum to block the map, according to a source with direct knowledge who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Now, with many Texas Democrats holed up in Illinois and blocking the gerrymandered map proposal, the stage may be set for a high-profile showdown between Pritzker and Trump.

The Republican president is looking to avoid a repeat of his first term, when Democrats flipped the House two years into his presidency, and he hopes the new Texas map will aid that effort. Trump officials have also looked at redrawing lines in other states, such as Missouri, according to a person familiar with conversations but unauthorized to speak publicly about them.

Cappelletti and DeMillo write for the Associated Press. AP writer Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

CHICAGO — A judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit Friday that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police.

The lawsuit, filed in February, alleged that so-called sanctuary laws in the nation’s third-largest city “thwart” federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.

It argued that local laws run counter to federal laws by restricting “local governments from sharing immigration information with federal law enforcement officials” and preventing immigration agents from identifying “individuals who may be subject to removal.”

Judge Lindsay Jenkins of the Northern District of Illinois granted the defendants’ motion for dismissal.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said that he was pleased with the decision and that the city is safer when police focus on the needs of Chicagoans.

“This ruling affirms what we have long known: that Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance is lawful and supports public safety. The City cannot be compelled to cooperate with the Trump Administration’s reckless and inhumane immigration agenda,” he said in a statement.

Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, welcomed the ruling, saying in a social media post, “Illinois just beat the Trump Administration in federal court.”

The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security and did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The administration has filed a series of lawsuits targeting state or city policies it sees as interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City, Denver and Rochester, N.Y. It sued four New Jersey cities in May.

Heavily Democratic Chicago has been a sanctuary city for decades and has beefed up its laws several times, including during President Trump’s first term in 2017.

That same year, then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, signed more statewide sanctuary protections into law, putting him at odds with his party.

There is no official definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities. The terms generally describe limits on local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration laws nationwide but sometimes seeks state and local help.

SACRAMENTO — For nearly 20 years, Maria would call her sister — a nurse in Mexico — for advice on how to manage her asthma and control her husband’s diabetes instead of going to the doctor in California.

She didn’t have legal status, so she couldn’t get health insurance and skipped routine exams, relying instead on home remedies and, at times, getting inhalers from Mexico. She insisted on using only her first name for fear of deportation.

Things changed for Maria and many others in recent years when some Democratic-led states opened up their health insurance programs to low-income immigrants regardless of their legal status. Maria and her husband signed up the day the program began last year.

“It changed immensely, like from Earth to the heavens,” Maria said in Spanish of Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. “Having the peace of mind of getting insurance leads me to getting sick less.”

At least seven states and the District of Columbia have offered coverage for immigrants, mostly since 2020. But three of them have done an about-face, ending or limiting coverage for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who aren’t in the U.S. legally — California, Illinois and Minnesota.

The programs cost much more than officials had projected at a time when the states are facing multibillion-dollar deficits now and in the future. In Illinois, adult immigrants ages 42 to 64 without legal status have lost their healthcare to save an estimated $404 million. All adult immigrants in Minnesota no longer have access to the state program, saving nearly $57 million. In California, no one will automatically lose coverage, but new enrollments for adults will stop in 2026 to save more than $3 billion over several years.

Cuts in all three states were backed by Democratic governors who once championed expanding health coverage to immigrants.

The Trump administration this week shared the home addresses, ethnicities and personal data of all Medicaid recipients with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Twenty states, including California, Illinois and Minnesota, have sued.

Healthcare providers told the Associated Press that all of those factors, especially the fear of being arrested or deported, are having a chilling effect on people seeking care. And states may have to spend more money down the road because immigrants will avoid preventive healthcare and end up needing to go to safety-net hospitals.

“I feel like they continue to squeeze you more and more to the point where you’ll burst,” Maria said, referencing all the uncertainties for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission.

‘People are going to die’

People who run free and community health clinics in California and Minnesota said patients who got on state Medicaid programs received knee replacements and heart procedures and were diagnosed for serious conditions like late-stage cancer.

CommunityHealth is one of the nation’s largest free clinics, serving many uninsured and underinsured immigrants in the Chicago area who have no other options for treatment. That includes the people who lost coverage July 1 when Illinois ended its Health Benefits for Immigrants Adults Program, which served about 31,500 people ages 42 to 64.

One of CommunityHealth’s community outreach workers and care coordinator said Eastern European patients she works with started coming in with questions about what the change meant for them. She said many of the patients also don’t speak English and don’t have transportation to get to clinics that can treat them. The worker spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to protect patients’ privacy.

Health Finders Collective in Minnesota’s rural Rice and Steele counties south of Minneapolis serves low-income and underinsured patients, including large populations of Latino immigrants and Somali refugees. Executive director Charlie Mandile said his clinics are seeing patients rushing to squeeze in appointments and procedures before 19,000 people age 18 and older are kicked off insurance at the end of the year.

Free and community health clinics in all three states say they will keep serving patients regardless of insurance coverage — but that might get harder after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decided this month to restrict federally qualified health centers from treating people without legal status.

CommunityHealth Chief Executive Stephanie Willding said she always worried about the stability of the program because it was fully state funded, “but truthfully, we thought that day was much, much further away.”

“People are going to die. Some people are going to go untreated,” Alicia Hardy, chief executive officer of CommuniCARE+OLE clinics in California, said of the state’s Medicaid changes. “It’s hard to see the humanity in the decision-making that’s happening right now.”

A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Health said ending the state’s program will decrease MinnesotaCare spending in the short term, but she acknowledged healthcare costs would rise elsewhere, including uncompensated care at hospitals.

Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, a Republican, said the state’s program was not sustainable.

“It wasn’t about trying to be non-compassionate or not caring about people,” she said. “When we looked at the state budget, the dollars were not there to support what was passed and what was being spent.”

Demuth also noted that children will still have coverage, and adults lacking permanent legal status can buy private health insurance.

Healthcare providers also are worried that preventable conditions will go unmanaged, and people will avoid care until they end up in emergency rooms — where care will be available under federal law.

One of those safety-net public hospitals, Cook County Health in Chicago, treated about 8,000 patients from Illinois’ program last year. Dr. Erik Mikaitis, the health system’s CEO, said doing so brought in $111 million in revenue.

But he anticipated other providers who billed through the program could close, he said. “Things can become unstable very quickly,” he said.

Monthly fees, federal policies create barriers

State lawmakers said California’s Medi-Cal changes stem from budget issues — a $12-billion deficit this year, with larger ones projected ahead. Democratic state leaders last month agreed to stop new enrollment starting in 2026 for all low-income adults without legal status. Those under 60 remaining on the program will have to pay a $30 monthly fee in 2027.

States are also bracing for impact from federal policies. Cuts to Medicaid and other programs in President Trump’s massive tax and spending bill include a 10% cut to the federal share of Medicaid expansion costs to states that offer health benefits to immigrants starting October 2027.

California health officials estimate roughly 200,000 people will lose coverage after the first full year of restricted enrollment, though Gov. Gavin Newsom maintains that even with the rollbacks, California provides the most expansive healthcare coverage for poor adults.

Every new bill requires a shift in Maria’s monthly calculations to make ends meet. She believes many people won’t be able to afford the $30-a-month premiums and will instead go back to self-medication or skip treatment altogether.

“It was a total triumph,” she said of Medi-Cal expansion. “But now that all of this is coming our way, we’re going backwards to a worse place.”

Fear and tension about immigration raids are changing patient behavior, too. Providers told the AP that, as immigration raids ramped up, their patients were requesting more virtual appointments, not showing up to routine doctor’s visits and not picking up prescriptions for their chronic conditions.

Maria has the option to keep her coverage. But she is weighing the health of her family against risking what they’ve built in the U.S.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” Maria said of her decision to remain on the program. “If it comes to the point where my husband gets sick and his life is at risk, well then, obviously, we have to choose his life.”

Nguyễn and Shastri write for the Associated Press and reported from Sacramento and Milwaukee, respectively. AP journalist Godofredo Vasquez in San Francisco contributed to this report.