Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana has withdrawn support for a plan to designate a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility to house illegal immigrants scheduled for deportation in the northern Illinois region. .
The Republican sheriff had been working with ICE to develop the facility, but after confronting angry pro-illegal activists, Caruana reported on Thursday that he had changed his tune. illinois public media of Will County.
Caruana spoke at the rally just before a planned rally in downtown Rockford, the county's largest city and the state's third-largest metropolis, about two hours northwest of Chicago. announced the decision.
Citing severe jail staffing shortages, the sheriff has asked ICE to ensure that the proposed Winnebago County facility only houses convicted illegal aliens and illegal aliens arrested for crimes. However, he claimed that ICE would not honor that promise.
The plan had already faced opposition from activists and liberal politicians. At a recent meeting about the proposal, Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights accused the immigration system of making money off deportations.
“One of the most frustrating things about the immigration detention system is that it is used as a source of income,” said Tsao, a member of the committee that heard Caruana's proposal earlier this week. “This is selling your body,” he shouted.
“I have feelings, I understand what they are saying, I feel it,” Caruana told the media after a recent meeting. “At the same time, I have to run a law enforcement business, so I have to be careful with how I spend everyone's money.”
The sheriff's move comes as the state's radical Democratic governor has made a sudden shift, claiming he agrees with the concept of deporting illegal aliens arrested and convicted of crimes. It was done.
In a rare move, Pritzker said he now supports deporting criminals after President Trump's next border czar, Tom Homan, said during a visit to Chicago that deportations would begin right in the Windy City. I was asked what I said.
“Violent criminals who are in the United States illegally and have been convicted of violent crimes should be deported,” Pritzker said, according to the newspaper. fox news. “I don't want them in my state. I don't think they should be in the United States.”
Homan, however, did not limit the deportation discussion to just the criminal element, but said the Trump administration would start there.
Homan also warned state and local officials not to interfere with ICE's work and said he has no problem arresting officials involved in such interference.
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