Rockford, IL — In Rockford, part of Winnebago County, a proposition a few years ago by Sheriff Gary Caruana to designate a segment of the county jail as an ICE detention center stirred significant backlash from community members, including figures like Rudy Valdez, who serves on the public safety committee for the Coalition of Latino Leaders. Valdez and others have argued that such a facility would not only be detrimental from a business perspective but morally egregious.
In response to widespread protest, including crowded local meetings and a scheduled rally, county officials ultimately decided to drop the contentious initiative. The planned rally quickly transformed into a celebration of the decision, highlighting that officials were responsive to community concerns.
Moving forward, practices and policies concerning cooperation with ICE underwent a significant shift in Illinois. The state enacted the Illinois Trust Act, a robust piece of legislation, drafted with the assistance of individuals like Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Under the Act, local law enforcement is prohibited from assisting federal immigration officials and from detaining individuals at the behest of ICE without a federal criminal warrant.
The statute mandates that local law enforcement cannot arrest or detain someone solely based on their immigration status or suspected immigration status. Enacted in 2017 under then-Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican, the law fortified the state’s stand against local officials’ involvement in immigration enforcement.
In 2021, enhancements were made to the law through the Illinois Forward Act, which introduced stricter conditions including the prohibition of local law enforcement from inquiring about someone’s immigration status or sharing that information with immigration authorities. Additionally, the law also put an end to contracts between county jails and ICE regarding immigration detentions.
Despite some Republican opposition to these laws, which argue that they hinder law enforcement capabilities, proponents like Tsao maintain that such regulations foster better cooperation between the immigrant community and police. It reassures immigrants that contacting police in the event of a crime won’t result in immigration inquiries, thus encouraging crime reporting.
Nevertheless, while these laws restrict local law enforcement’s role in immigration matters, they do not impede ICE from executing deportations independently. ICE operations can still encompass raids on homes and businesses to apprehend and deport individuals.
According to ICE’s Midwest office statistics, nearly 24,000 immigration-related arrests were made from fiscal years 2021 to 2024. As the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump approaches, whose campaign emphasized mass deportations, immigrant advocacy groups have been intensifying their efforts to prepare communities through “Know Your Rights” training sessions.
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