The good news in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton is negotiating with Cook County in an effort to get the county to honor federal immigration detention requests.
In late September 2011, Cook County (a ‘Sanctuary County’ for illegal aliens since 2006) suspended its cooperation with ICE and passed an ordinance that ‘ordered’ the sheriff’s office to ignore ICE detainers for illegal aliens who had committed a crime and to allow the release of criminal aliens once they had posted bail. The Cook County board used the expense of holding suspected illegal immigrants as its excuse to rescind its agreement with ICE.
However, ICE director John Morton in a letter to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle offered to pick up the cost of holding the criminal aliens until ICE agents can show up to remove them. Additionally, Morton said that any detainees would be picked up on the same day the criminal alien posts bail.
While Ms. Preckwinkle has agreed to meet with Morton to discuss this matter, her comment regarding this important policy is enough to leave anyone who seeks to uphold and enforce this country’s laws speechless:
“What is troubling to me … is a policy which treats people differently under the law solely based on their immigration status.”
Her statement should be offensive to U.S. citizens and to all legal immigrants who sometimes wait up to ten years going through the proper channels to become legal citizens of this country. Additionally, these criminal aliens will not be treated differently under the law for the charges against them in Cook County. Moreover, Cook County routinely honors detainers from other law enforcement departments that seek detainers on people in their custody.
And yes, people who cross our borders illegally should be deported for breaking our immigration laws.