Courtesy of IBIC

Chicago, Illinois: Illinois Business Immigration Coalition (IBIC) strongly opposes the construction of a new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigrant detention facility in Dwight, Illinois. Ahead of the hearing, we urge the Dwight Planning Commission to join bipartisan opposition from Governor JB Pritzker here, from municipalities of Crete, Joliet, Winnebago, Hobart, Gary, Elkhart to reject ICE immigrant detention center, value economic growth and community and police relations over fiscally murky revenue. International trade supports 1,711,100 Illinois jobs – nearly 1 in 4. Future economic growth and jobs for Dwight, for Illinois and America depend on expanding U.S. trade and investment opportunities in the global marketplace. In the past two years alone, Department of Homeland Security reported over 150 percent increase in the arrest and deportation of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record across the US. Lastly, immigrant detention centers seriously damage the relationship between local law enforcement and immigrant communities. Law enforcement agencies across the country already report dramatic drops in the number of immigrants reporting sexual assault and other violent crimes compared to 2016 numbers.