CITY HALL β City and state leaders joined immigrant advocates Monday to rally against a proposal that would allow Chicago police to coordinate with federal immigration officials, citing potential financial and community impacts.
Numerous aldermen, city and state officials, immigrant advocates and an immigrant rights attorney have argued that the proposal would instead have devastating effects on Black and Brown communities, is illegal under current state law and could pose significant financial risks to the city. An ICE hold, also known as an immigration hold or immigration detainer, is a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to a jail to hold an arrested undocumented person for up to 48 hours after a scheduled release date.
However, this form of arrest is the only of its kind in the United States that does not involve a review by a judge or other neutral official, Fleming said. The oversight has left cities open to litigation resulting in millions of dollars in damages paid out to immigrants. Enacted in , the act is designed to build trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement by ensuring that undocumented individuals are not at risk when interacting with local and state police.
However, Lopez previously told Block Club that amending the ordinance would show the incoming Trump administration that Chicago leaders are open to working with them and could save undocumented people not charged with any crimes from being deported. The mayor came out strongly against it. Advocates warned Monday that the proposed changes to the Welcoming City ordinance could have longstanding effects on immigrants and people of color.
And while we are not here to recount that collective racial history, we are here to say that this ordinance has a danger of adding to that history in unproductive ways.
