Officials want more control in illegal immigration fight
Suburban law enforcement officials Monday joined legislators and immigration advocates to promote a new law intended to bar the use of state funds to deport undocumented immigrants and give local authorities greater control over anti-illegal immigration efforts in their communities.
Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez said Monday he’s concerned the federal immigration agency is deporting illegal immigrants after minor offenses.
Perez said he generally likes a stated goal of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s information-sharing Secure Communities program: to deport illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes.
Perez says, though, that ICE has been seeking to deport people picked up for driving without a license, for example, a relatively minor offense. Getting deported could take the immigrant away from his family, Perez said.
“We see the human side,” Perez said. “Even if he’s not here legally, he’s working.”
At a news conference in downtown Chicago, the officials announced the so-called Smart Enforcement Act that would allow counties to choose whether to participate in federal anti-illegal immigration programs and require a specific accounting of the costs local counties would be expected to assume.
ICE officials, though, said they’ll work with local counties if they’re concerned about the program.
“Jurisdictions cannot opt out of Secure Communities as it is fundamentally an information-sharing program between federal partners,” Brian Hale, ICE director of public affairs, said in a statement.
Some already don’t participate, though. Cook County, for example, was confused about the purpose of the Secure Communities program and declined to participate, said Steve Patterson, spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart.
Sponsored by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the news conference responded to reports critical of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for overstating the effectiveness of its Secure Communities program and trying to force Cook County officials to participate.
The officials said nearly half of the immigrants arrested under the Secure Communities program had no criminal convictions, contradicting the agency’s stated mission to catch and deport serious criminals.
“Recently released documents reveal that ICE specifically targeted Cook County for participation in this program and in the process to override Chicago and county laws restricting cooperation with ICE,” the coalition said in a release announcing the news conference.
Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said he thinks the federal government should take up comprehensive immigration reform and hasn’t personally noticed ICE stepping in with more deportations in his area.
“We’re willing to look into it in greater detail,” he said.