Mayor of Chicago denies ICE access to CPD files

July 15, 2019 por Isolda Barrera

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With the announcement that raid on illegal immigrants would start this past Sunday, Chicago mayor announced that the Chicago Police Department would not be allowing access to ICE agents, the police’s department’s databases.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that the city of Chicago will protect all of its families. She will halt any police involvement with Immigration and Custom Services, and are not allowed to lend any assistance or cooperate with them in the raids.

Mayor Lightfoot also mentions that the Chicago Police Department “will not team up with ICE to detain any residents”, she announced this after a meeting with business leaders and immigration advocates at the Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Lightfoot points out that the police has been informed into not facilitating any information or assisting with raids, whether they are traffic stops or any of the sorts. The Chicago Police Department will not provide any additional support. As they have also cut off access to Ice to the CPD databases, as of the moment this is to be a permanent ban on ICE.

But advocates want to know what Chicago mayor plans to do about the other services that have access to the database and if any cases they could share that information with ICE agents. Not only that but small loopholes and exemptions where ICE can still access the database files in cases where the target is in the city’s gang list, has pending felonies or multiple warrants. Immigration right activist are looking to have those exemptions removed.

With raid already going on since Sunday, many families have been contacting various immigration rights groups s well as legal adviser. As of the moments many have pointed out that if ICE agents where to visit your home, they are not entitled to have entry into the property without the corresponding search warrant from a judge. Raid attempts were of little success and many agents turned away for not having the correct documentation.

ACLU says that undocumented immigrants have right as well, and that for no means are they legally required to grant access to ICE agents, and if arrested they are advised to remain silent until they have the correct legal representation.

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