ICE Can’t Cover Up Its Own Negligence

ICE Blast at Cook County Detainer Ordinance Won’t Hide Its Own Failures

Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director John Morton wrote to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to condemn the Cook County ordinance on ICE detainers.  This ordinance, enacted by the County Board and signed by Preckwinkle in September 2011, states that the county will not comply with detainers for which ICE does not fully compensate the county.  The following is the statement of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR).

ICE’s attack on the Cook County Ordinance only highlights its own failures to catch and remove serious criminals.  ICE has multiple opportunities to arrest individuals who threat public safety.  It can issue legally-binding arrest warrants, instead of just detainers.  It can arrest these individuals when they are released from county jail.  Or it could simply pay the county $142.50 per day to cover the costs for complying with detainers, as allowed by the ordinance.  ICE has done none of these.

The ordinance ends the unfunded mandate imposed on Cook County by the costs of holding individuals on ICE holds.  It also protects families and public safety by focusing law enforcement resources on dangerous individuals, rather than hardworking immigrants who pose no threat to the community.

Rather than attacking Cook County, ICE should do its own job better.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a statewide coalition of more than 130 organizations dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society