In a major victory for immigrants and their advocates last summer, Illinois passed into law legislation effectively ending immigration detention in the state. While two counties challenged that law in court, it now appears it will go into effect.
But rather than transferring detained immigrants elsewhere across the country, far away from loved ones during an ongoing pandemic, members from the state’s congressional delegation are urging Immigration and Customs (ICE) to release them, which the agency has every ability to do.
“The practice of transferring people to locations where they are deprived of access to their families and counsel is unnecessary and harmful,” lawmakers including Rep. Jan Schakowsky tell Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and acting ICE Director Tae Johnson. They cite “dramatically escalating” COVID-19 cases within federal immigration detention facilities, which transfers only exacerbate.
“Transfers not only expose people in ICE custody to COVID-19, but they also threaten the physical, mental, and emotional health of detained individuals,” lawmakers continued. (Click here for a full list of signatories.) They said legal service providers and immigrant rights organizations have warned that detained immigrants could be transferred to out-of-state facilities “known for neglect and abuse,” including Indiana’s Clay County Jail. Lawmakers said that site failed an inspection last year “due to substandard conditions and dangerous deficiencies.” The Associated Press (AP) reported last year that investigators found “dozens of policy violations, including not providing enough trained mental health and medical personnel.”
“We urge you to respect the spirit and letter of the decision by Illinois elected officials to end ICE detention,” legislators continue to Mayorkas and Johnson, pointing to the historic Illinois Way Forward Act passed by state lawmakers.
McHenry and Kankakee Counties had gone to court over the law late last year, prioritizing their millions of dollars in federal contracts over the safety and lives of detained immigrants. While a federal judge dismissed their case in December, the counties appealed. But then last month, an appeals court ruled that the two counties would need to terminate their ICE contracts. While the AP reports that Kankakee County’s chair had in December vowed to go all the way to the Supreme Court, a McHenry County attorney said last month that they had not yet decided whether to appeal. It’s unclear where they stand today.
Appeal or no appeal, the Biden administration still has the power to ensure the safety, and lives, of immigrants currently in federal custody. It can, and should, release them to shelter in their own homes. “In early January, there were 94 people who remained in immigration custody at the McHenry County Jail and the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee,” Chicago Sun Times reported last month.
“To protect the health, safety, and human rights of people detained in Illinois, we ask that your agencies use your authority to safely release people in detention into the care of their communities,” lawmakers conclude. “While someone is being detained, not only is it harder for them to access legal counsel, but they’re also separated from their families, their support networks, and their communities, which can be really debilitating,” Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Senior Policy Counsel Fred Tsao told Injustice Watch last month.
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