Activists Tuesday called for officials to release people accused of immigration violations who are being held during the last days of federal detention at McHenry and Kankakee county jails.
The jails are expected to end their federal contracts to hold immigration detainees by Feb. 12, activists said. A new state law effective Jan. 1 prohibits such contracts. County officials had delayed the effective date while they challenged the law as unconstitutional, but federal judges ruled against them.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are deciding whether to transfer the detainees to another detention facility out of state, or to release them while they wait for court hearings.
Advocates called the detentions inhumane and costly, while McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally and county board Chairman Mike Buehler, both Republicans, called the state law hasty and politically motivated.
Advocates held a news conference outside ICE’s field office in Chicago Tuesday, asking the agency to free the detainees. Seven Democratic members of Congress from Illinois sent a letter to ICE asking it to release the detainees, along with an online petition.
Two detainees told the Tribune about their experiences in jail.
Angela Osorio, a mother of three who lives in Cicero, said she was held at the McHenry jail from April until October, then transferred to a jail in Kansas, far from anyone she knew.
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She came to the United States on a tourist visa in 2000 and overstayed, and is waiting for a ruling on her appeal of her case.
During her time in jail, she said, “It changed my life, not for the good.”
Detainees were kept in cells, about 6 feet by 4 feet, with a metal bunk and mattress, toilet and sink. “It’s like you’re sleeping in the bathroom,” she said.
She said she was depressed and suicidal, being cut off from her family and worried about deportation. The food was terrible, and any goods for sale in the commissary were twice as expensive as normal, and in Kansas she was held with criminals.
Alejandro Ortiz, 27, said he flew from Zacatecas, Mexico, into Midway Airport in October on a tourist visa to see his family, but officials did not accept it and took him into custody. He said that he has some issues in Mexico he didn’t want to talk about, but had come on a tourist visa before and didn’t anticipate any problem.
Upon arrival at the McHenry jail, he was forced to quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the worst part was being kept in solitary confinement in his cell 24 hours a day, with no contact with anyone, except for one hour every other day when he was allowed to go into a larger common area.
His cousin in Chicago sponsored Ortiz, promising to house and support him, and ICE released him on parole in January, pending a hearing in civil immigration court on his request for asylum due to dangers he said he faces in Mexico.
He said many detainees had to miss appointments to meet family or attorneys because the jail kept changing schedules for lockdown and free periods.
Both detainees described their experiences as “very scary.”
As of Jan. 21, ICE had released 34 detainees, according to Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. About 30 more remained at McHenry and 10 at Kankakee at that time, with ICE allowing 10 days for the individuals and their attorneys to submit additional information to argue for their release.
About 20 people demonstrated to release the detainees, representing Organized Communities Against Deportation, Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants, National Immigrant Justice Center and the Collaborative for Health Equity Cook County.
Before state law ended the ICE contracts, last May, after contentious debate, the McHenry County board voted to continue to hold federal detainees, noting that the contract typically brought in around $8 million a year in federal fees. Officials said the McHenry jail is accredited with high standards for safety and humanity, and warned that ending the local jail detentions would only lead to some detainees being transferred out of state, far from their families, friends and attorneys.