Justice system applies to immigrants, nonimmigrants alike
The recent op-ed in which Hanover Park Mayor Rod Craig criticizes Cook County’s new ordinance establishing a policy for responding to ICE detainer requests is yet another example of the overwhelming confusion that exists regarding the difference between criminal justice policies and immigration policies. We live in a nation that was founded and built by immigrants, and I firmly believe that our criminal justice system must be applied fairly and equally to everyone, immigrant and nonimmigrant alike.
I agree that releasing anyone who has committed a forcible felony before he is brought to justice is wrong. Anyone who is proven guilty of a crime must repay his debt to society. However, I am confident that the mayor would agree that it is also wrong to assume that someone is guilty of a crime before he has been proven guilty in a court of law. To disagree would be un-American and, in this case, blatantly discriminatory.
In this great country, we cherish the principles that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and nobody should be incarcerated without probable cause. These are not privileges reserved only for the wealthy and powerful — or for the native born; they are fundamental constitutional and civil liberties enjoyed by all persons in the United States, and they are an important part of what distinguishes us from the rest of the world. That is why this ordinance is so important. It ensures that our criminal justice system will be applied fairly and equally, and that we will only detain persons pursuant to the rules and procedures of that system.
The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement enforces immigration law, not criminal law, and except in cases of persons convicted of serious crimes, ICE detention is simply not a public safety mechanism. The director of ICE has repeatedly said that the federal government is concentrating its removal efforts on convicted criminals, and if someone is not convicted of a serious crime, ICE usually has to release him.
The county’s new policy does not prevent the federal government from doing its job of enforcing our nation’s immigration laws. ICE can still remove from the country any noncitizen who poses a risk to society because the federal government has access to every detainee’s information. Cook County is not interfering with that. But ICE detainers are not based on evidence that someone is subject to removal, or that he is violent or dangerous. That is why they have even been placed on U.S. citizens, including veterans, by mistake.
By refusing to detain people who are entitled to their freedom, based merely on a request from ICE, we are upholding our system of justice — the very system that protects us from criminal misconduct. As Mayor Craig admitted, he incorrectly assumed that complying with an ICE detainer request would have prevented the release of the alleged undocumented immigrants accused of assaulting two of his village’s police officers, and this was even before the county’s new policy went into effect. The agent they contacted in that case confirmed that ICE would not have picked up the suspects even if the sheriff had held them beyond their authorized time of release.
The best way to protect our society against dangerous criminals is to let the criminal justice process run its course. Cook County judges carefully evaluate the risk someone may pose to society before setting bond, and no one is released from the sheriff’s custody unless and until a judge determines that person does not pose a significant risk to public safety. The law makes no exception for people born in other countries. Once someone is convicted of a crime of violence, he is sent to state prison to do his time, and ICE agents will then have the conviction they need to make sure that person is removed, rather than released back into our society.
Ÿ Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is a Cook County commissioner in the 7th District.