Illinois’ plan to end federal immigration detention in the New Year has hit another legal snag
“This decision will have absolutely no impact on these detainees being released," Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said in a statement after the lawsuit's dismissal."In fact, they will undoubtedly be transferred to other states, all the while forcing families of these detainees to travel much farther to visit their loved ones, all due to typical partisan Illinois politics in Springfield.
“I was very happy. I was even crying. I felt like this was a miracle," said Angel, an immigrant from Honduras who declined to give his last name out of concern for his pending immigration case. The father of four said he left Honduras to escape gang violence. Prior to Thursday's stay, McHenry, which currently houses about 65 detainees, had planned to notify ICE on Jan. 1 that it would wind down its month-to-month contract and transfer or release detainees within 30 days, or by January's end, according to Peter Austin, county administrator.
Kankakee County, which has a similar contract and has detained immigrants at the Jerome Combs Detention Center since 2016, was also anticipating a revenue loss. The jail is roughly 65 miles from Chicago. In a December statement, Kankakee County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler said the county would appeal"as far as we can, up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Immigrant rights advocates, who said the delay was only temporary, planned to argue for the release of detainees versus transfers, which could move them farther from legal help. But they continued to praise the Illinois law, saying incarceration is destabilizing to families.
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