Confusion over the level and length of cooperation between the Cook County Board and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, has one Cook County Commissioner pointing an accusatory finger at the Sheriff’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office pointing an equally accusatory finger back at the Commissioner’s office.
When Peter Kramer, Chief General Counsel for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, spoke in front of the Cook County Board on September 7th regarding the controversial ordinance that the board would pass which means that the County will no longer cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security in their ICE detainer program, he stunned the commissioners and those viewing the proceedings when he refused to offer an opinion.
“If the ordinance passes, and the state’s attorney says it’s a valid exercise of your budgetary authority, we will enforce it,” said Kramer.
Ravenswood Commissioner John Fritchey responded, “Your initial statement has me somewhat perplexed,” continuing, “that’s going to be your position on anything this board passes.”
The reason this position was so stunning say supporters of this ordinance, namely Chicago Commissioner Jesus Garcia, is that the Cook County Sheriff’s Office was consulted throughout and helped to craft the ordinance.
Now, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office says that’s not the case. The Office stopped cooperating says outgoing Cook County Sheriff spokesperson, Steve Patterson, when proponents of the ordinance went further than the Sheriff’s Office was comfortable with.
Patterson was quoted in an Associated Press article saying this, “When they wanted a more sweeping ordinance that would let everybody go free no matter what their criminal charge was, we just backed away from the conversation,”.
Patterson expanded on this comment in an email, “During our initial conversations with county officials about it, we suggested they look to San Francisco for a basis, have public hearings, take detainers on a case-by-case basis, etc. When they refused to do any of those, we were no longer involved in discussions.”
In California’s San Francisco County, the Sheriff, Michael Hennessy, instituted a similar program however in his program the Sheriff’s Office reviewed each detainer and only released those inmates the office felt were not going to pose a danger to the County. The Cook County ordinance took away any discretion from the Sheriff’s office. Under the Cook County ordinance, any inmate scheduled to be released, whether they posted bond or finished their prison sentence, is now to be released immediately.
That supposition drew a rebuke from the office of Jesus Garcia. Alvaro Obregon, from Garcia’s office, said, “that’s factually inaccurate,” in response to Patterson’s comments. Obregon repeated Garcia’s position that the Sheriff’s Office was a part of crafting the ordinance all throughout the process.
Patterson repeated himself in response, “After that point, we didn’t meet with them again, nor did we have any input on the ordinance and didn’t know what it contained until it was introduced.”
An ICE detainer is a hold placed by ICE on prisoners in municipal prisons, who are also flagged for immigration violations. These holds give ICE up to two business days to come pick up any inmate that has posted bond or finished their criminal sentence. This ordinance means that Cook County will no longer cooperate with these detainers.
Proponents of the ordinance have insisted that this ordinance wouldn’t apply to violent criminals like murderers but stories in both the Sun Times and in the Daily Herald have highlighted criminal illegal aliens that were charged with assaulting police officers and were released as a result of the ordinance.
John Daley, a Democratic Commissioner from Chicago, was the only commissioner to cross traditional ideological lines on this ordinance. It saw all Republicans vote against it, while all other Democrats voted for it (Democrat Robert Steele was absent). Daley said after the meeting that the Sheriff’s Office lack of position on the ordinance was one reason for his vote.
Jessey Neves, spokesperson for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, didn’t immediately respond to an email for comment. Preckwinkle has publicly supported the ordinance.
