News & Commentary

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.”

Today is Mother’s Day. Across the State of Illinois, many of us will contact our own mother – perhaps via Zoom this year – and others will remember mothers no longer with us. Like every year, we will discuss how much we love mothers and how important they are to our individual lives and to our society. 

This week, the ACLU released a new update to a 2013 report on the cost of cannabis enforcement across the United States, both in terms of costs and the impact on individual lives. Unsurprisingly, the report shows that the war on cannabis rages on: nationally, law enforcement made more than 6.1 million cannabis-related arrests from 2010 to 2018 - more arrests than for all violent crimes combined. These arrests eat up an enormous amount of resources from law enforcement and the criminal legal system and fall most heavily on people of color.  

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.

Black residents of Illinois were seven times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession in Illinois before the State regulated purchase and possession at the beginning of this year. In fact, Illinois had the third highest rate of bias in cannabis arrests in the United States, surpassed only by Montana and Kentucky. The ACLU of Illinois noted these figures today in calling for continued vigilance to assure that remaining enforcement of cannabis in Illinois not carry on this legacy of discrimination. 

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.

Yesterday, a state representative released the names of prisoners in Illinois granted commutation recently as part of an ongoing effort to reduce the population of Illinois prisons, which are experiencing outbreaks of the virus which causes COVID-19.  

The COVID-19 pandemic creates anxiety and hardship for millions of Americans, and raises a number of urgent issues for the most vulnerable in our state. In response, the ACLU is in contact with state and local government officials to ensure that all actions in response to this crisis are based in science and public health.

Early voting for the 2020 Primary Election in Illinois is underway. From President to local prosecutors, judges and other officials, your vote in this election will have an impact on how civil liberties are protected and advanced in our state.  Mark sure you make a plan and vote.