Pressure is mounting against a proposal to open a for-profit immigrant detention center
in Joliet. Activists submitted 4,000 petitions against the facility to the Joliet City Council Thursday, just one day after four Illinois congressional delegates sent a letter asking the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano, to reject the prison’s proposal.
U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley (D, IL-5), Tammy Duckworth (D, IL-8), Brad Schneider (D, IL-10) and Bill Foster (D, IL-11) were behind the letter sent to Napolitano on Wednesday.
“Bringing
an immigrant detention center to Joliet would mean overwhelming fear
for this city’s immigrant community,” said Jesse Hoyt, an organizer with
the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). “The pressure that’s on the city and the county to do something to stop this is getting much more intense.”
Read more »
