News & Commentary

In response to the murder of George Floyd as the result of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck, Jaylan Butler – the Eastern Illinois University swimmer who was pinned face down on the ground by officers kneeling on his back and his neck, while another pointed a gun at his forehead – today issued the following statement: 

The following can be attributed to Colleen Connell, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois: “The Mayor’s summary announcement of a potentially indefinite curfew tonight for the entire City – with hundreds of people trapped in the Loop – raises serious constitutional questions that need to be remedied. Any curfew must be limited to the specific places in the City where there is imminent threat of danger or harm, not the entire City. The broad and vague nature of this order – and the suggestion that it is indefinite in time – invites arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. We encourage the Mayor to rethink this strategy immediately. The ACLU of Illinois is exploring all options including litigation.” 

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Illinois took Clearview AI to court today to bring an end to the company’s unlawful, privacy-destroying surveillance activities. The lawsuit is the first to force any face recognition surveillance company to answer directly to groups representing survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, undocumented immigrants, and other vulnerable communities uniquely harmed by face recognition surveillance. You can read the complaint in full here.

The below statement can be attributed to Colleen Connell, Executive Director, ACLU of Illinois:

In response to a proposed Cook County Board resolution compelling the disclosure of private health information to law enforcement and other first responders against the recommendation of public health experts, the ACLU of Illinois submitted testimony today strongly opposed to the measure. In testimony to the Commissioners, Executive Director Colleen Connell warned the board that sharing private medical information – the identities of all people in Cook County who have tested positive for COVID-19 – would undermine public health, increase the risk of spreading the virus, and violate federal and state legal protections.

A simple truth of the past few years is that ideological anti-abortion forces will use any excuse, any opportunity and any misinformation to advance their cause. Pushing legislation based on faulty, even non-existent, science? No problem. A single anecdote or news story taken out of context? Push reckless state legislation designed to invite our nation’s Supreme Court to strike down the fundamental holding in Roe v. Wade. 

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.   

LULAC of Illinois, part of the largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States, wants to represent the voice of its members from McHenry County in a lawsuit that will determine whether private medical information about residents will be shared by the County public health department with law enforcement. LULAC told the Circuit Court of McHenry County in a filing earlier this week that the release of names and addresses of people who test positive for COVID-19 will undermine the basic precepts of public health, and have a dangerous and stigmatizing impact on members of the Hispanic community, discouraging many in McHenry County from seeking testing and treatment in the midst of the pandemic.  

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.