Cook County rejects ICE proposal on alien detentions

A months-long disagreement between Cook County, Ill. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears poised to continue following the county`s April 9 rejection of a proposal from ICE Director John Morton.

Cook County Board of Commissioners President Tony Preckwinkle said in a letter (.pdf) that “immigration enforcement is not a function of the County.” She added that permitting ICE agents to work in county buildings and to have access to records for the sole purpose of immigration enforcement would require the county to operate “beyond the scope of its role as a local jurisdiction” and could open it up to liability.

Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago and many of its suburbs, in September approved a policy (County Ordinance 46 §37) under which it no longer honors ICE requests to detain illegal immigrants after they`ve posted bail. County officials have also said cooperating with ICE detentions could violate a 2007 ordinance (07-R-240 [.pdf]) preventing county workers from asking about an individual`s immigration status.

In February, Morton proposed (.pdf) in response to an earlier letter (.pdf) from Preckwinkle that Cook County permit ICE agents into its jail with the federal agency bearing any costs associated with their presence. He also said that ICE would be able to prevent the county from incurring costs of further detaining aliens for transfer to ICE by picking up flagged detainees from county custody on the day of their release, provided the county gave ICE at least 24 hours` notice and released all aliens during normal business hours. Morton said that in the event that ICE wouldn`t be able to assume custody of an arrested alien on the same day, it would reimburse the county.

In her April 9 letter, Preckwinkle said it`s impossible to give ICE 24 hours` notice since an inmate can be released at any time. In any case, ICE`s detention cost reimbursement proposal goes back to the issue of local jurisdiction, since detention of anyone in the county jail “past the point when individual is free to go subjects the County to liability for unlawful detention and infringes upon an individual`s rights,” she wrote.

The county`s primary objection to ICE detention requests, she added is not financial in any case. The September county ordinance “was passed to ensure that detainees in Cook County are granted fair and equitable access to justice, regardless of their immigration status,” she said.

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