Cook County, an immigrant sanctuary at risk

by Ana-Maria Udrica
March 02, 2011

Significant numbers of non-criminal immigrants are being arrested and deported from Illinois through a federal program designed to identify and remove convicted criminal aliens from the United States.

According to the most recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics, 78 percent of immigrants arrested between November 2009 and October 2010 through Illinois’ Secure Communities program had no criminal convictions. Of those deported, 53 percent were not criminals.

The statistics are based on the 26 counties that participate in Secure Communities. Cook County is not one of them and, in the face of mounting pressure from ICE, immigration advocates who highlight the program’s failures are working to keep it that way.

“It’s catching the wrong people,â€