Illinois' law ending immigration detention in 2022 hits snag

Johannes Favi, an immigrant from Benin, poses outside his home in Indianapolis, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. An Illinois law which was supposed to end federal agreements to detain immigrants in county jails in the New Year has been delayed. Immigrant rights activists nationwide have celebrated the law as a step toward ending practices they consider inhumane and costly. Although some counties argue it may complicate things for immigrants who may be moved further from family and legal help.

Immigrant rights activists have celebrated the law for months, saying incarcerating people awaiting immigration proceedings is inhumane and costly. But others, including authorities in McHenry and Kankakee counties, argue they'll lose revenue and that ending contracts creates new complications such as moving detainees away from family.

Initially three were released, but more followed in the coming days during a process in which detainees were allowed to submit evidence on their cases. Fifteen total detainees were released, according to court documents. Leaders in McHenry and Kankakee counties sued in September over the Illinois law, calling it overreach. Together both counties have the capacity for nearly 400 detainees, though each one currently has far fewer, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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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