The controversial case of Saul Chavez has brought new attention to an old problem – the fraught relationship between Cook County and the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency.

Cook County’s 18-member Board of Commissioners will hold a hearing in the next two weeks: The hearing will address whether the county Sheriff’s Department should cooperate with some of ICE's requests to detain suspected illegal immigrants charged with crimes.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle agreed to the hearing. But Preckwinkle opposes two amendments to a county ordinance allowing a federal detainer put on some immigrants.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, though, is for some federal detainers.

What Dart, Preckwinkle and other Cook County Commissioners have in common is limited dialogue with ICE, except critical memos the agency sends to Preckwinkle’s office.

Frank Bilecki, a spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart, says that county law enforcement has occasional discussions with ICE over trafficking and drug issues. Otherwise, Bilecki says, “There is no relationship and zero communication with ICE.”

ICE has also not talked with Tim Schneider, a Republican commissioner from Elmwood, who wrote one of the two detention ordinance amendments. “We still haven’t met,” Schneider says. “I’m waiting to hear back from ICE.”

A call to ICE for this story was not returned.

Cook County has clashed with ICE in the past year over issues like its refusal to participate in a federal “Secure Communities” program where local law enforcement go after suspected illegal immigrants charged with crimes.

The conflict reignited largely thanks to a Chicago Tribune January 4 story, “Cook County’s Saul Chavez Moment.”  Tribune columnist John Kass told the story of Saul Chavez, who was charged with aggravated driving under the influence: Chavez allegedly killed a pedestrian while driving drunk last June.

ICE suspected Chavez was an illegal immigrant and filed a federal detainer request that Cook County keep him in custody.

But this request was made as Cook County was changing its detainer policy. In September, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance that the Cook County sheriff would deny all detainer requests, unless the federal government pays the cost of detention.

On November 20, Chavez was released from Cook County jail after he posted $25,000 of his $250,000 bond. Chavez has since disappeared.

The Tribune story prompted ICE Director John Morton to write a letter to Preckwinkle to say that the detainer ordinance undermines public safety and breaks federal law. Preckwinkle shot back with her own letter stating that, “The federal government cannot compel a local agency to use its resources to enforce federal immigration laws.”

Preckwinkle says the Chavez debacle as reflecting Cook County’s problem with bail policy, not immigration policy. The county board passed a measure at their January 18 meeting that authorizes the Cook County Judiciary Advisory Council to conduct a six-month study on the issuance of bonds.

But the commissioners also agreed at their January meeting to hold a hearing on two proposed amendments to the detainer ordinance. One, proposed by Schneider, would have Cook County honor ICE detainer requests in cases involving individuals on the terrorism watch list and also those charged with serious felonies.

“We’re not looking to break up families or throw people in jail who have broken tail lights,” Schneider says. “We are looking for high-level offenders who are dangers to society.”

Another amendment, by Commissioner Peter Silvestri, a Republican from Elmwood Park, would give police discretion to cooperate with some detainer requests.

Preckwinkle spokesman Owen Kilmer says that the president does not support these amendments because, “They make too many fundamental changes to the original ordinance." Kilmer added that the amendments also “put two different sets of law on the books” – one for suspected illegal immigrants and one for everyone else.

In other words, the amendments could go against Cook County’s policy of treating residents the same, regardless of immigration status.

Dart spokesman Bilecki counters that all the Sheriff’s office wants to do is let the federal government intervene in the most serious criminal cases. Bilecki adds that the cost of detention, about $145 a day, is not prohibitively high, considering that Cook County does receive some grant money from ICE.

Bilecki welcomes an upcoming board of commissioners hearing, tentatively scheduled for the second week of February.  “Let’s bring everybody to the table and bring some closure to this,” Bilecki says.

ICE officials were invited to the hearing, but it isn’t known if they will attend.

Image: Tom Dart/courtesy of houserepos.net