News & Commentary

The statement below can be attributed to the ACLU of Illinois: “Like all caring residents of Chicago, we share the shock and sadness at the recent gun violence and loss of life in the City. Our thoughts and condolences are with those killed or hurt as a result of this violence. A group of Chicago City Council members now are calling for action by the Mayor and Chicago Police to stem the shootings. In past summers, similar calls have been met with the implementation of ineffective policies, including police officers flooding Black and Latinx communities  –  often dressed in quasi-military gear  – and arrests of Black and Brown men. This same performative approach has been tried time and time again. And it has failed. Moreover, years of repeating these failed policies has contributed to biased and violent policing in the City and has destroyed trust between police and communities on the South and West sides. This could be a moment for fundamental change. Rather than simply repeating ineffective and alienating practices of the past, it is a moment for adopting evidence-based police strategies that actually address public safety problems, creating real avenues for community input into policing and investing in social services that reach the root causes of gun violence. In short, it is time to be bold and real – and to refuse the same old failed policies.  Leadership requires curiosity and the courage to admit that past approaches have been wrong. Simply flooding communities of color with militarized police and arresting people – strategies that do not change the arc of violence and drive wedges between the police and the community – is not leadership. We can do better.” 

Pride month is a time to step back and appreciate the progress we have seen for LGBTQ+ people in Illinois—and to identity the urgent issues and harms still facing these communities. Lack of access to stable housing affects so many people, and anti-LGBTQ+ housing discrimination has long been a barrier to the safety and welfare of queer and transgender people. And in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, stable housing is more important than ever.

Tania Cordova grew up in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood after emigrating from Mexico in 1985. As a transgender woman, Tania’s memories of the early 90’s are full of traumatic encounters with Chicago police. “I used to go to ‘Chicks’ — a trans nightclub — on Broadway and Clark. The police would arrest everyone transgender anywhere near the club for solicitation.”She was taken to the Belmont police station and searched by male officers. “It was so scary an

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.