Cook County plan would limit questions on residents' status

By Oscar Avila
Tribune staff reporter

Religious leaders, labor activists and others called Thursday for a guarantee that Cook County employees will not ask about a person's immigration status during routine interactions.

County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (D-Chicago) has introduced a resolution that would make Cook County a symbolic "sanctuary" for undocumented immigrants by placing those restrictions on county personnel.

Maldonado said the need was made clear during two recent incidents in which Chicago police and Cook County security officers are accused of improperly harassing Latinos believed to be illegal immigrants.

"If we can't change the attitudes of some of our employees, at least with legislation, we can control their behavior," Maldonado said at Thursday's hearing on the resolution.

Members of the Law Enforcement and Corrections Committee postponed a vote, but some commissioners expressed misgivings about the county entering the immigration debate.

The packed, and at times heated, hearing illustrated how the national controversy over illegal immigration has become the purview of mayors, county boards and other local officials.

Some municipalities like Hazleton, Pa., have taken immigration into their own hands by passing ordinances that would deny illegal immigrants the right to rent apartments and obtain business licenses.

Other cities, such as Chicago and San Francisco, have declared themselves sanctuaries, saying it is not the role of local authorities to enforce immigration laws. Sanctuary policies do not provide protection against arrests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Jennifer Nagda, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said she worried that county authorities could resort to racial profiling if they tried to ferret out illegal immigrants.

Jacqueline Herrera of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights added that the county could be sued if officials treated immigrants improperly. She said a sanctuary policy would ensure that inexperienced county officials do not wade into immigration matters.

"Immigration law is not learned in a week," she said.

Herrera also warned that undocumented immigrants would be less likely to cooperate with county authorities on solving crimes if they feared being reported to immigration officials.

But Batavia resident Yvonne Dinwiddie called the measure "treason," adding that Cook County residents would be at greater risk if the resolution passes.

"To give sanctuary to them would be opening the doors of Cook County to all enemy invaders," she said.

Committee members said they were generally sympathetic to protecting immigrants but backed away from giving the resolution their full support.

Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-Riverside), himself an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia, said he has spoken out against the recent alleged abuses of immigrants and a House bill that would toughen immigration enforcement.

While sympathetic, Peraica questioned whether Maldonado's plan was merely a "feel-good" measure.

"This is an issue I hope Congress will tackle," said Peraica, the Republican nominee for County Board president.
 
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