Courtesy of ICIRR

After much pressure from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Mayor Rahm Emanuel took a major step in making Chicago more welcoming for immigrants by introducing the Safe Families Ordinance.

This ordinance is a direct result of pressure from ICIRR after Chicago Police last February arrested Rose Tchakounte, a 54-year-old mother and asylum seeker from the central African nation of Cameroon. Chicago Police stopped Tchakounte for failing to signal a turn, and arrested her upon discovering an outstanding deportation order on her record. Charged with no crime, Rose spent two nights in custody while Chicago Police waited for immigration agents to pick her up. When ICE failed to show up, Chicago Police delivered her to ICE’s doorstep. This conduct violated the spirit of the 2006 Chicago ordinance and Mayoral executive orders dating back to 1985 barring city agencies and employees from engaging in federal immigration enforcement.
ICIRR met with Mayor Emanuel’s staff and with Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to express concerns between the cooperation of the Chicago Police Department and ICE and need to strengthen the City’s 2006 ordinance.

ICIRR also provided an initial draft of a proposed amendment, and worked on further drafts leading up to the ordinance being introduced today. The Safe Families ordinance will clarify that Chicago Police are not to detain immigrants based solely on alleged immigration violations.

Immigrants make up 20.7 percent of Chicago’s population, and Mayor Emanuel came into office pledging to make this city the “most immigrant-friendly city” in the US.