News & Commentary

A preliminary settlement recently was announced in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of people in detention after ICE arrested them without a warrant.

The following statement can be attributed to Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois: “After four years, we cheer today’s order from President Biden reversing the discriminatory, discredited Muslim travel ban. The deliberate embrace of Islamophobia as the policy of our federal government is a shameful episode that cannot be erased with a single signature. It will take work. It will take not simply lifting a travel ban but adopting and enforcing policies that rejects bigotry aimed at Muslims across our nation. That work must begin immediately.  As we celebrate President Biden’s action, we remember those individuals and families who have suffered over the past four years. Birthdays, weddings, births and funerals have occurred with an empty chair because of this travel ban – which was never about safety and security. We also recall the heroes, the families who called out injustice and the lawyers who showed up at airports in the first hours of the travel ban with many continuing to help families and individuals facing discrimination. Their commitment has kept the flame of hope shining for many. And finally, we think about all those who stood up and went to O’Hare and sites across the country to protest this ban four long years ago. Our work to fight this discrimination must continue, not end, after today.” 

Souleymane Dembele is a loving husband to a lawful permanent resident of the United States and father to three U.S. citizen children. Like many people in Illinois, he has pre-existing medical conditions, including hypertension that is managed with medication. Until a few months ago, however, Mr. Dembele feared for his life. That was because he was held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at McHenry County Jail as COVID-19 spread across the country and our state like wildfire. 

A federal court ordered a man released from ICE custody at the Kankakee County Jail late last night. The action follows a lawsuit filed late last week.   

Joaquin Herrera-Herrera, a 60-year-old man detained by ICE on pending immigration proceedings since February, yesterday asked a federal court to release him from the Jerome Combs Detention Center (JCDC) in Kankakee because his age and underlying health conditions make him vulnerable to serious complications and death from COVID-19. Mr. Herrera-Herrera came to the United States at age six, and has resided in the Chicago area for almost his entire life. As a business owner, he placed and serviced vending machines in restaurants and medical offices for decades, providing for his three children and – before his detention – acting as caregiver for his grandson for more than six years. 

Today, another man was released from ICE custody following a Monday ruling by U.S District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that he was likely to succeed in showing that conditions in the McHenry County Jail placed him at risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19. The detainee is represented by the ACLU of Illinois, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Faegre Drinker Biddle and Reath LLP in litigation in federal district court in Chicago. The lawsuit, Dembele v. Prim, was filed on behalf of two detainees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) who suffer from medical conditions recognized to heighten the risk of severe complications and death from COVID-19. It sought release of these individuals because crowded and unsanitary conditions in the McHenry County Jail failed to protect them from the disease and to enable them to protect themselves in violation of due process. The other man in the lawsuit was released in April, days after the suit was filed.   Reacting to the news of the release, Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois, issued the following statement: “We are pleased the federal court recognized that our client was likely to succeed in showing that conditions in the McHenry County Jail placed him at risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19. Both of the people we represented in this lawsuit have been released. But detention facilities remain vectors of coronavirus, and many other medically vulnerable people remain in Illinois’ ICE facilities fearing they will be the next victim of COVID. We will continue to work for the release of others who face these terrifying conditions.”

Our client Souleymane Dembele has been released from ICE custody just days after the filing of a lawsuit on his behalf. Souleymane, husband to a lawful resident and father to three U.S. citizen children, suffers from pre-existing medical conditions. He was held by ICE at the McHenry County Jail, where conditions put him at risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19. Last Friday, the ACLU of Illinois, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Faegre Drinker Biddle and Reath LLP filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Chicago on behalf of Mr. Dembele and another vulnerable immigrant. The lawsuit seeks to enforce these individuals’ due process rights and argues for their immediate release because crowded and unsanitary conditions in the McHenry County Jail place them at significant risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19. Mr. Dembele suffers from medical conditions that are recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to place people at high risk of COVID-19 complications. After the lawsuit was filed, the ACLU was notified by the government that Mr. Dembele would be released. The second man who sued is still detained. “This is a truly great day for Mr. Dembele, his wife and his children – who lived each day in fear that his life was at risk in the McHenry County Jail,” said Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois. “On the day we filed this suit for Mr. Dembele, a senior ICE official told members of Congress the agency did not plan to release any more immigrants. ICE clearly is not doing enough to ensure that immigration detention does not amount to a death sentence for vulnerable people. Immigration detention continues to unnecessarily put immigrants, facility staff, and the surrounding community at risk.” Mr. Dembele is under a doctor’s care for hypertension and pre-diabetes.

Souleymane Dembele, who has lived and raised his family in the United States for almost a decade, lives in fear for his life while detained on civil immigration charges at the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility. Mr. Dembele suffers from medical conditions that place him at high risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19. The ACLU of Illinois, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Faegre Drinker Biddle and Reach LLP filed suit today in a federal district court in Chicago on behalf of Mr. Dembele and another vulnerable immigrant against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and McHenry County officials. The suit seeks the immediate, temporary release of the plaintiffs from jail due to the threat to their health and lives posed by conditions promoting the spread of coronavirus.

This past summer, I initiated a project exploring the personal stories of Chicago-area DACA recipients as part of my internship with the ACLU of Illinois’ communications department.  The aim of the project was to go beyond the complicated arguments regarding DACA’s constitutionality (though, it is). I wanted to emphasize that this program is about the livelihood, the aspirations, and the future of millions of immigrants. I hoped that by allowing recipients talk about the significance of DACA, we could give more agency to their stories, hopes and dreams.My experience launching this project was humbling and a remarkable learning experience. Every step