News & Commentary

The following statement can be attributed to Heidi Dalenberg, Director of the Institutional Reform Project, ACLU of Illinois: “A cursory examination of the capacity of DCFS reveals that the agency does not have adequate resources to fulfill their core mission - assuring the safety and permanency for youth in their care. Consider the reality: DCFS does not have enough workers to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect, does not have enough caseworkers to help children return to their families or find a permanent home with other loving adults, does not have enough community-based services to help children with significant mental or behavioral health problems, and does not have enough doctors or enough residential facilities to safely care for those same youth. None of these problems are addressed in the budget adopted for the new fiscal year. Instead, the budget appears to believe that DCFS is about to enjoy a series of miracles, starting with a reversal of the years-long trend of adding thousands more children to the total youth in DCFS care. We would love to live in the world where miracles are possible. The children in DCFS care live in the real world. Every day, DCFS underserves children to such a gross degree that its mistreatment exceeds the ‘offenses’ that DCFS labeled as abuse or neglect when taking the children from their families.  DCFS cannot fulfill its obligation to the children in its care with the budget it requested. We can only hope that if the miracles DCFS is counting on do not materialize, the Department comes to the Legislature for supplemental funding.”

The following statement can be attributed to Khadine Bennett, Director of Advocacy and Intergovermental Affairs, ACLU of Illinois: “Both chambers have now approved House Bill 2553, the Protecting Household Privacy Act, which now goes to the Governor for enactment. The bill provides modest guidelines on how law enforcement can access intimate data collected by household electronic devices like virtual assistants, Ring doorbells and smart appliances. As these devices grown in popularity, it is critical to protect the range of data collected by these devices.  This measure is consistent with efforts in Illinois over the past several years to strike a critical balance between emerging technologies each of us use for our personal convenience and the personal data about residents in our state captured by these devices. We are grateful to Senator Cristina Castro and Representative Ann Williams for their leadership and vision, not only on this measure but on their commitment to protect privacy for all Illinois residents. We urge the Governor to sign this bill as soon as possible.”

The following statement can be attributed to Nora Collins-Mandeville, Director of Systems Reform Policy, ACLU of Illinois: “The passage of House Bill 219 is a huge win for students across the State of Illinois. The measure was advanced after media reports indicated that schools regularly used restraint and seclusion practices. More alarming, these harmful practices were used most often against youth of color and youth with disabilities. It is worth noting the cruelty of some of these practices. Many of the prone restraints authorized by schools were tantamount to the use of deadly force. And we know the devastating psychological impact on students from being secluded. These practices simply cannot be permitted in our schools, and this bill makes that clear. Thanks to passage of this measure, Illinois joins the majority of states across the country in banning these cruel, unnecessary measures. We thank Senator Gillespie and Representative Carroll for their leadership and commitment to seeing this wrong righted. We look forward to seeing this measure signed into law by the Governor, and to the future benefit that will flow to students all across our state.”

The statement below can be attributed to Chelsea Diaz, Advocacy Associate, ACLU of Illinois: “Passage of the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act by the Illinois House moves students across Illinois one step closer to getting the information and education they need to support informed decision making and lead healthy lives. This measure ensures comprehensive personal health and safety and sexual health education is inclusive.  Students who have long been stigmatized and or made invisible in these courses, such as LGBTQ students and pregnant and parenting students, will now feel affirmed and seen in their classrooms. At the same time, the bill specifically retains the existing opt out for parents so a student’s participation is left up to the parent, and not to a teacher or school administrator. This is a great step forward for Illinois students and we express our gratitude to State Representative Camille Lily who has been a leader on this issue for many years. Students’ lives will be better because of her work. We also thank the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and all the advocates of the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Coalition who worked this session to improve comprehensive sexual health education, efforts that ultimately were combined into this measure.  We look forward to Governor Pritzker signing the bill when it gets to his desk.”

The following statement can be attributed to Nusrat Choudhury, legal director at the ACLU of Illinois: “Today’s sudden announcement of an interim foot pursuit policy by the Chicago Police Department continues to fail in serving residents of the City in at least one critical respect. The policy was developed without incorporating the ideas of Black and Brown Chicagoans who have been the victims of reckless foot pursuits and have stood ready to work with the City on a policy to restrict foot chases. The Superintendent reports on an ‘internal process’ that sought input on the policy from CPD officers, but that process ignored Chicago residents.  The only true path to police reform includes meaningful and deep community input in order to shape policies and practices that end patterns of violent policing that have targeted Chicago’s communities of color for generations. But this requires the City to be truly open to changing policies to reflect community experiences and needs. The Monitor enforcing the Chicago Police consent decree found that the City relegates community engagement to the late stages of policy development and fails to incorporate community engagement which often prevents meaningful community participation. To achieve real reform, the City must do better.”

Calling the step necessary to fix a flawed democracy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois today submitted testimony in support of House Joint Resolution 16, supporting statehood for the District of Columbia.

The statement below can be attributed to Ghirlandi Guidetti, LGBTQ & HIV Project Staff Attorney, ACLU of Illinois: “At today’s hearing, DCFS officials offered more excuses for its inadequate care for LGBTQ youth, as confirmed by the Auditor’s report. Rather than accept any responsibility for its failures – a prerequisite for any meaningful change – the Department suggested things are different now, and made more promises for the future.  The truth is that the experiences of LGBTQ youth in care are no better today than they were during the audit. Our youth deserve better than promises of future change.”

Statement of the ACLU of Illinois:

The following statement can be attributed to Nusrat Choudhury, Legal Director, ACLU of Illinois: “In a Friday afternoon media release, the Chicago Police Department today announced a new policy relating to police raids on the wrong homes. This widespread problem was brought into sharp relief by the video of the raid on the home of Anjanette Young, a Black social worker, who was held naked at gunpoint by numerous Chicago police officers. We look forward to reviewing this policy in detail and to speaking with community allies from across the City to gather their input. But once again, the City failed to meaningfully engage with impacted communities in the process of creating this new policy.  Black and brown residents across Chicago have been victims of wrong raids, and unnecessarily violent raids, for years. But the City’s principal means of engaging with these communities was to post this policy on the CPD online portal for written comments - not to meet with community organizations whose members have been impacted by wrong raids. Community voices deserve to be heard if CPD is truly committed to ensuring that no one is subjected to the humiliation and trauma that results when police break down doors to enter into homes and hold people, including children, at gunpoint. Police reform is not simply checking a box after a horrific incident is exposed for public view by pushing through a new policy. It is hard work that begins with learning from affected communities where police have gone wrong. The policy that CPD issued today was an opportunity to begin this healing. Once again, the city has failed to meet the moment.”