Members of a group formulating plans to make Crystal Lake a Freedom City include (from left) are Kerry Aschenbach, Anne Blohm and Bill Blohm.

A small group of Crystal Lake citizens gathered April 5 at Panera to formulate plans to make Crystal Lake a Freedom City.

According to the group leader Kerry Aschenbach, a Freedom City has many of the same attributes of a sanctuary city.

“It’s more a culture,” she explained. “The idea is to work within existing laws and ordinances.”

Anne Blohm explained that the group’s goal is to prevent law-abiding residents from being deported.

“Legal immigrants and even citizens can be deported by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, if they don’t have the proper documents with them.”

“It’s important to have a clear message,” said Aschenbach.

For explanation purposes, she relied on the precedence of sanctuary cities.

The idea for giving sanctuary comes from at least the churches in the 1980s that provide sanctuary to Central Americans fleeing violence in their home country while the federal government refused to grant them refugee status. Some argue that the philosophy dates back to Moses, where sanctuary cities were designated for those fleeing retaliation from accusers. More recently, sanctuary cities became popular to counteract overzealous federal immigration policies, particularly against those arrested for minor, non-violent crimes.

Although the current administration plans to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities, the courts have held in the past that the federal government can only do that if the funds are related to the policy involved. The courts have also ruled that funding decisions may not be used to “coerce” states into actions.

In a recent case brought by conservatives against the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court held in 2012 that withholding Medicaid funds from states that did not cooperate was “coercion,” and unconstitutional.

Another case on gun rights written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, also cited as a possible defense for sanctuary cities. In Printz v. U.S., Scalia wrote: “The Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program.”

The matter will likely end up in the courts — as did many of Obama’s immigration executive actions.

According to the Associated Press, Illinois already has some of the nation’s most immigrant-friendly laws. The state’s largest immigrant advocacy group, the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, is pushing city officials to make Chicago’s rules stronger. Some state legislators propose making Illinois a sanctuary state.

Aschenbach and her group of local citizen are not content to wait for state-wide legislation. They intend to move forward with their plan on a local scale and make Crystal Lake a Freedom City.