Lawmakers pass bills to close ICE detention centers, enhance deportation protections
By SARAH MANSUR
Capitol News Illinois
smansur@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers passed bills advanced by the Legislative Latino Caucus that would close the state’s three immigrant detention centers and strengthen existing protections against local and federal law enforcement.
The Illinois Way Forward Act, or Senate Bill 667, requires that the existing agreements between local jails in McHenry, Pulaski and Kankakee counties and Immigration and Customs Enforcement must end by Jan. 1, 2022. The bill also prohibits any future agreements between ICE and local governments to “house or detain individuals for federal civil immigration violations.”
The bill would also strengthen the TRUST Act, or “Transparency and Responsibility Using State Tools,” which took effect in 2017.
The TRUST Act prohibits state and local law enforcement officials from detaining “any individual solely on the basis of any immigration detainer or nonjudicial immigration warrant.”
Under the TRUST Act, state and local police cannot arrest or detain individuals based on suspected or actual immigration status. It also prohibits police from holding or detaining people based on ICE arrest warrants or detainers.
But there are other types of cooperation that local police can engage in with federal immigration enforcement, such as cooperating in joint operations with ICE, said Fred Tsao, who is senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which lobbied for this bill.
“They can still transfer people to ICE. They can still give ICE access to people who are detained in their facilities. They can still give ICE access to their facilities, and share information with ICE,” Tsao said in an interview. “So, the intent of this legislation is to further restrict local police participation and facilitation of those kinds of activities, short of ICE having a criminal warrant.”
Local police can still participate in and cooperate with ICE if the case involves a criminal offense, Tsao said.
“But if it’s purely a civil immigration situation, then local police cannot touch that,” he said.
SB 667 would also empower the state attorney general’s office to investigate violations of the TRUST Act and enforce compliance through local courts.
Under the current law, the mechanism to enforce the TRUST Act is to have an injured party bring the lawsuits themselves in county court.
“That can be really difficult and really expensive and time consuming. And it places the burden on the person who was hurt by the behavior. And if this is a pattern and practice on the part of the law enforcement agency, that would mean multiple different actions that would have to proceed separately,” Tsao said.
“Empowering the attorney general to be able to investigate, to request documents, to really get to the bottom of such practices, and then to enable them to seek remedial action is a very important step in making sure that these laws get complied with.”
Similar legislation offering protections for immigrants and phasing out immigrant detention centers were passed recently in California and Washington state.
“We are hoping that this bill will provide a model or template for other states to pick up, as they’re moving legislation forward and trying to provide protections for their local communities,” Tsao said.
In addition to SB 667, the House and Senate extended Medicaid coverage to noncitizens between ages 55 and 64 in Senate Bill 2017. Current law provides Medicaid coverage for noncitizens who are 65 and older.
The legislature also passed House Bill 2790 to allow attorneys from the Cook County Public Defender’s Office to represent noncitizens in federal immigration court.
The purpose of HB 2790 was to ensure there are no conflicts arising from jurisdictional issues, such as lawsuits against the county to prevent or prohibit public defenders from representing clients in federal immigration court, said Irakere Picon, a lead organizer of the Defenders for All Coalition and director of legal services at the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition.
“We’re very excited as advocates to ensure that we get to the point where somebody who is being detained and has to represent themselves in immigration court, someone who doesn’t speak English as a first language, doesn’t have to do that by themselves,” Picon said.
The bills have passed both chambers of the General Assembly and will be sent to Gov. JB Pritzker.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Local News
Mother’s Day is truly a day to be celebrated
Spread the love. Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place • (773) 504-9327 . Mother’s Day happens on Sunday, May 12. If this isn’t something to celebrate, I don’t know what is. Motherhood means new life, new beginnings, new possibilities. Even if you won’t be seeing your mom, you can still…
Saint Xavier men’s volleyball finishes historic season in nation’s top 4
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Saint Xavier men’s volleyball team made history by advancing to the semifinals of the NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Championship. But the Cougars fell to eventual national champion Georgetown (Kentucky), 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10, on May 3 at Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Although there was…
St. Francis first baseman Nate Maliska earns conference POW honors
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent The University of St. Francis sophomore first baseman Nate Maliska was chosen the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference’s Player of the Week in baseball for April 7. In helping the Saints to four wins that week, Maliska went 9-for-15 (.600) with eight RBI and seven runs scored. The St. Laurence…
Baseball | Marist claws way back to .500
Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent This season has thus far not been what Marist had expected, but the RedHawks came into this week at .500. Marist was 2-8 after 10 games this season, with three of those first eight losses coming via shutout. But the RedHawks turned things around with a stretch of eight…
Red Stars fall to Spirit for third loss in past four matches
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent After enjoying one of their best starts in franchise history, the Chicago Red Stars have slid to the middle of the NWSL standings, with the latest setback being a 4-2 loss to Washington at SeatGeek Stadium. The Stars (3-3-1) entered this week having dropped three of their past four…
Red Stars take aim at NWSL attendance record with Wrigley game
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Chicago Red Stars are thinking big when it comes to their upcoming game at Wrigley Field. The team is taking aim at the NWSL record for single-game attendance when it hosts Bay FC at the historic home of the Chicago Cubs on June 8. The record is held…
IHSA announces boys volleyball postseason assignments
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Last year, the area sent a pair of boys volleyball teams to state as Lyons finished runner-up to champion Glenbard South and Brother Rice lost in the quarterfinals. This year, both could face each other in the sectional finals. The Lions picked up the second seed and the Crusaders…
Badminton players from Reavis and Lyons going to state
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Reavis singles player Dania Amjad finished third in the Bolingbrook Sectional on May 2 to qualify for the IHSA state tournament. The Lyons doubles team of Simone Brown and Mia Graziano finished fourth in the York Sectional to qualify for state. The state finals are May 10-11 at DeKalb…
Brother Rice, Sandburg sending boats to bass fishing state tourney
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Correspondent Brother Rice is sending two boats to the IHSA state bass fishing tournament. The Crusaders had first- and third-place finishes at the Des Plaines River Big Basin Marina Sectional on May 2. Sandwiched in between the Brother Rice boats was a group from Sandburg in second place. The Crusaders’…
Neighbors
Home security cameras could be big help to Orland cops
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Residents of Orland Park could have a hand in solving crime in the village. The board of trustees unanimously approved to move forward with a voluntary security camera registration program at its Jan. 4 meeting. It’s expected to start on Feb. 1. This program gives citizens and businesses a chance…
Ailing eagle on the mend
Spread the loveSeveral blocks northwest of Garfield Ridge—just west of 47th and Harlem–motorists late last month noticed an eagle flying low and acting erratically. The Villa Park-based Chicago Bird Collision Monitors was contacted, and its volunteers found and captured the majestic bird. It was transported to a facility owned and operated by Glen Ellyn-based Willowbrook…
Can’t we just fast-forward to spring?
Spread the loveBy Joan Hadac Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge (708) 496-0265 • joan.hadac@gmail.com Hi everyone. Is it spring yet? Is the pandemic over yet? Not that I’m impatient or anything. I want to move forward past all the negative COVID-19 has brought to my life and everyone else’s life. I want to see…
Scavenger Sale different this year, Pappas says
Spread the loveFrom staff reports Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ 2022 Scavenger Sale will look different, as the Treasurer’s Office takes steps to help small developers, homeowners and investors rebuild neighborhoods and create generational wealth. Under Illinois law, the Treasurer’s Office is required to conduct a Scavenger Sale every two years, offering at auction the…
Give poor countries a break, Chuy says
Spread the loveFrom staff reports U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-4th) is one of 18 Members of Congress who recently sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, urging her to use the voice and vote of the United States at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to abolish the IMF’s surcharge policy, which requires countries…
Stop sale of dangerous drugs online, Rush says
Spread the loveFrom staff reports Legislation designed to ensure that social media platforms and websites are held accountable for failing to prevent the sale of dangerous, illegal drugs on their platforms has been introduced by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-1st). The Domain Reform for Unlawful Drug Sellers (DRUGS) Act also was introduced by U.S. David…
$1 million Lucky Day Lotto jackpot won in Bridgeview
Spread the loveFrom staff reports If you bought a Lucky Day Lotto ticket in Bridgeview for Thursday night’s drawing, you may want to check it right away – that’s because you might be a newly-minted millionaire! Circle K gas station, located at 7050 S. Harlem Ave. in Bridgeview, sold a $1 million winning Lucky Day…
Poisoned bald eagle found in Lyons woods
Spread the loveBy Kelly White Bald eagles are becoming increasingly more common in the Chicagoland area, and avid bird enthusiasts said this is no surprise. “I have been watching the same pair of bald eagles and their offspring for 12 years now,” Sue Delfiacco said. To Delfiacco, the pair of birds are like family. Every…
Ada Hook was a Chicago Lawn original
Spread the loveBy Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 Last week we learned about the passing of two ladies with ties to the community: Mary Ellen St. Aubin and Harriet Jendrach. On the heels of that news, I just learned of the recent passing of…
Meeting those new year’s challenges
Spread the loveBy Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place • (773) 504-9327 Hi neighbors! I hope everyone is enjoying January. This is a good time to stay inside and organize your home. Start with a room or a closet or even a drawer. I decided to start with the cabinet that I keep…