By: Daniel Nardini
The Illinois Senate, normally not always in agreement with the politics of Chicago and Cook County, was in complete agreement about preventing the federal immigration detention center from opening in Crete, Illinois. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wants to open a federal detention center for undocumented in Crete, Illinois. Not just the people of Chicago and Cook County, but also the people in Crete and Will County are not thrilled of having this type of a prison in their area. Without question it is a prison, but not an ordinary prison. The people who will be incarcerated there will not be hardened criminals nor people who would pose a threat to anyone outside of this place. They will be undocumented who were caught and would be held in such a place until they are deported. The City of Chicago and Cook County do not want such a facility, and obviously the people of Crete and Will County do not either.
It seems that their voices are being heard. The Illinois Senate feels the same way. The Senate has passed legislation that would not allow such a facility to be run and operated by any private corporation that would operate this and any prison-type facility in the state. This has undercut what ICE was doing since it was trying to contract with a private company, the Corrections Corporation of America, to run the facility. The Illinois State House of Representatives has now taken up similar legislation. The next question is if such legislation will be passed in both houses and then signed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. Sadly, this is the federal government, and these days the federal government does not seem to be listening too well to the people anywhere. The feds almost seem like an island away from the heart of how people live, work and feel about the issues that affect them where they are.
I mention this last point because, ironically enough, the feds seem to take forever about fully opening a maximum security prison in Thomson, Illinois, for actual criminals. I know from having been out there that the people in Thomson and Carroll County want this facility to open. In fact, they have wanted this facility to open for the past ten years! Since the State of Illinois did not open it, the Thomson prison was supposed to be sold to the federal government to be used as a prison for federal inmates. So far, nothing has happened with this facility. So now we have on the one hand the people in Thomson and Carroll County who want the federal government to open a prison already built so the town and county can benefit, and on the other hand the federal government seems determined to build a prison where it is not wanted. Sounds like Washington, D.C. has its priorities backward. Well, I hope the will of the people of Illinois will prevail over the bureaucracy that is our federal government.
Undermining the Detention Center
By: Daniel Nardini
It seems that their voices are being heard. The Illinois Senate feels the same way. The Senate has passed legislation that would not allow such a facility to be run and operated by any private corporation that would operate this and any prison-type facility in the state. This has undercut what ICE was doing since it was trying to contract with a private company, the Corrections Corporation of America, to run the facility. The Illinois State House of Representatives has now taken up similar legislation. The next question is if such legislation will be passed in both houses and then signed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. Sadly, this is the federal government, and these days the federal government does not seem to be listening too well to the people anywhere. The feds almost seem like an island away from the heart of how people live, work and feel about the issues that affect them where they are.
I mention this last point because, ironically enough, the feds seem to take forever about fully opening a maximum security prison in Thomson, Illinois, for actual criminals. I know from having been out there that the people in Thomson and Carroll County want this facility to open. In fact, they have wanted this facility to open for the past ten years! Since the State of Illinois did not open it, the Thomson prison was supposed to be sold to the federal government to be used as a prison for federal inmates. So far, nothing has happened with this facility. So now we have on the one hand the people in Thomson and Carroll County who want the federal government to open a prison already built so the town and county can benefit, and on the other hand the federal government seems determined to build a prison where it is not wanted. Sounds like Washington, D.C. has its priorities backward. Well, I hope the will of the people of Illinois will prevail over the bureaucracy that is our federal government.