Immigration-Sanctuary in Cook County

As talk of comprehensive immigration reform has taken a backseat to more pressing issues like the economy, counties and municipalities all across the U.S. are passing laws restricting the role of immigration law enforcement. Sanctuary statutes have been popping up all across the country for the last twenty years.

Chicago and Cook County both have such laws in place. Chicago's sanctuary laws state city employees and agencies cannot ask about the legal status of persons when seeking city services. Unless it is an investigation of a criminal act, city employees and agencies cannot ask about or investigate legal status. In addition, agencies cannot “disseminate information regarding citizenship” unless order to by the court system.

The Cook County resolution, passed by the board in April 2007 and sponsored by Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (8^th District), declares the county to have sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. Along the same lines as the city's ordinance, county employees and agencies are prohibited from seeking information regarding legal citizenship status unless the investigation is directly related to a criminal act. Additionally, the Cook County Sheriff's Department cannot aid in the “enforcement of federal civil immigration laws to the extent legally possible,” according to documentation from the National Immigration Law Center (NILC.)

Commissioner Maldonado was born in the South Bronx before his family returned to their homeland of Puerto Rico in 1955. At the age of 27, Maldonado returned to the U.S. 30 years ago from Puerto Rico. The introduction of the resolution spawned from Maldonado's belief of “systematic persecution” of Latinos.

“This is the civil rights struggle of this era,” said Maldonado. “How can you tell the difference between

When a person in taken into police custody in Cook County for a criminal act, deputies are allowed to ask about a person's legal immigration and/or citizenship status. Only after the court case has been completely disposed in the court system may Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials step in to begin the potential deportation process. Maldonado said there is an overwhelming amount of Latinos going through the court system, but most of their journey begins with a traffic violation, an offense below a misdemeanor.

After requesting to copies of ICE reports, Maldonado said he made an interesting discovery.

“If you look at (those) ICE reports that I saw, most of those people that were arrested originated from a traffic violation,” said Maldonado. “From below a misdemeanor to mushroom in which you find yourself before a judge on a felony or misdemeanor is just outrageous.”

Maldonado said three ICE officers attend bond hearings every day in Cook County and he has documentation of at least three U.S. citizens who have had ICE officials questioning their status.

The sanctuary provisions are mainly put in place to benefit the families living in the area, according to Fred Tsao, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

“It's not just a matter of undocumented people,” said Tsao. “This is a matter of people coming forward with U.S. born children and spouses from other countries.”

Tsao said opponents of the resolution were most concerned about the cost to the county, something Joan Friedlander, immigration policy analyst from NILC agrees with.

Friedlander said she does not like to refer to such policies as “sanctuary,” but rather as community policing because of the sanctions placed on the areas cooperation with federal immigration law. It is expensive for cities to take on the enforcement of immigration law, but Friedlander sees the implementation of such laws as more about “community safety.”

Chicago and Cook County's laws are not as strict as those in San Francisco, Houston, and Hartford, Conn., which Jessica Vaughn feels are protecting criminals. Vaughn is senior policy analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies.

Vaughn does feel like the county's laws are”schizophrenic,” after she came to the area to testify about guest workers.

“I just found it odd the county was worried about the number of legal guest workers and how they were recruited considering they're worried about their skilled workers, but not they're unskilled workers,” said Vaughn.

-Source List

-Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado. Cook County Office Phone: 312-603-6386. District Office Phone: 773-395-0143. Interviewed at his office in the Cook County Building on 10-22-08.

-Fred Tsao. Policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Phone: 312-332-7360, ext. 213. Interviewed via phone on 10-20-08.

-Joan Friedlander. Immigration policy analyst for the National Immigration Law Center. Phone: 202-384-1279. Interviewed via phone on 10-21-08.

-Jessica Vaughn. Senior policy analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies. Phone: 508-346-3380. Interviewed via phone on 10-22-08.