Illinois officials could deport and scrutinize illegal immigrants if legislation proposed by a suburban legislator gains traction.

According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, Rep. Randy Ramey, Jr. (R-Carol Stream) has introduced legislation that patterns itself after the Arizona law signed last April that drew a legal challenge from the Obama Administration. As in Arizona, Ramey’s bill would allow police to determine the immigration status of a person if the official reasonably suspects that the person is in the state illegally. It could also put the illegal immigrant on the deportation track.

Joshua Hoyt, executive director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said illegal immigrants pay income, sales and property taxes.

Hoyt said Ramey is a marginal character within the Illinois Republican Party and the party leadership, including state Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), did not embrace the type of immigration views Ramey is promoting while on the campaign trail last year.

“This bill would allow bad cops to hunt Mexican-Americans across the state based on the color of their skin,” Hoyt said.

Read the whole story here.

The New York Times has some good coverage of the state of reforms at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center (spurred by a settlement to our lawsuit, Jimmy Doe v. Cook County):

For much of the past two decades, the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center has been considered a prime example of what is wrong with the nation’s juvenile justice system. Three times in the last 10 years, federal court actions have taken aim at patronage, overcrowding and unhealthy and unsafe conditions.

Earl Dunlap, who became the jail’s transitional administrator in 2007, said he was combating an entrenched culture of mismanagement. He has worked to address the problems, in part by firing 100 workers and hiring 400 new guards and staff members. Since February, he also has faced the added pressure of knowing that a pending federal court ruling could undo much of his work.

Read the whole article. Learn more about our case, Jimmy Doe v. Cook County.