Ahead of ICE raids expected to begin on July 14, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that the city will not cooperate with any ICE raids and Governor JB Pritzker said the state won’t coordinate in any way with federal immigration officials. Across Chicago in advance of the immigration raids expected to begin after a 3-week delay from the original date, Chicago officials are informing residents that the city will not help Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that are predicted to begin early Sunday morning.
Mayor Lightfoot announced that the Chicago Police Department “will not team up with ICE to detain any resident. … They’re not gonna be facilitating or otherwise providing any assistance in any raids — whether it’s traffic stops [or] additional support. … We have also cut off ICE from any access from any CPD databases and that will remain permanent,” reports the Sun-Times, saying the mayor has
“personally spoken with ICE leadership” to voice her “strong objection to any raids. Chicago is and will always be a welcoming city that will never tolerate ICE tearing our families apart.”
Chicago Police officers can cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement if targeted individuals:
Gov. J.B. Pritzker was in Chicago on Wednesday and said in support or Mayor Lightfoot:
“We have laws in place for the [Illinois] State Police for state authorities about what information gets shared, what coordination will take place. In fact we strengthened those laws to protect the residents of the state, even those who are undocumented, over the last session of the Legislature. So I stand four square with the mayor and want to make sure that the people of our state, the residents of our state, are protected from these kinds of intrusions by ICE.”
The ACLU has a comprehensive guide to immigrants’ rights on its website, in both English and Spanish, detailing what raid targets should and should not do if ICE shows up at the door.
The immigration attorneys at Godoy Law Office in Chicago and Lombard can help you with your immigration case. If you need help with an immigration issue, please contact our office or call us at 855.554.6369.
Immigration Attorney Mario Godoy has years of experience guiding clients with immigration issues through the immigration process along with guiding clients through the criminal case. Godoy focuses on family-based immigration law, business immigration law, removal defense, and criminal defense representation of immigrants. A criminal charge or conviction can be devastating to your immigration case. With over a decade of immigration law experience and memories of family members who were deported due to bad legal advice, Godoy is committed to helping other immigrant families receive the legal justice they deserve. As a legal entrepreneur who practices immigration law, criminal law, estate and probate law, and running two successful law firms, Mario Godoy understands the importance of keeping families together and making a home and future in America.
