Shutting Down ICE: McHenry County Takes a Stand

In April of 2003, rural McHenry County began a politically and financially volatile relationship with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by contracting to house immigration detainees at the McHenry County Jail in Woodstock, Illinois.  The relationship quickly exposed local residents to the horrors of immigrant detention, but knowledge of the facility was a well-kept secret. In 2020, that relationship was thrust into the public spotlight due to the COVID pandemic and the racially motivated murder of George Floyd.  As seen through the eyes of local organizers, this episode of Change Agents will immerse listeners in the almost 20-year fight to end immigrant detention in McHenry County.

Produced by Carlos Acosta @phoenixbilingual | for Reparations Media NFP | In collaboration with Coalition to Cancel ICE in McHenry County @ICEoutofMcHenryCounty

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Transcript

The Case Against ICE

Shutting Down ICE: McHenry County Takes a Stand

[00:00:00] Concerned McHenry County Resident: Many of the people who demand this facility be closed are not from our community. Some of the people who demand this facility be banned are the same people who believe that [00:00:10] rioting and looting in our cities were reasonable demonstrations. These people don't care about the job loss and the higher taxes our community will suffer.

[00:00:19] These people [00:00:20] don't care enough about the safety of our families and our communities and our country.

[00:00:26] Carlos Acosta: That's a concerned resident during an [00:00:30] emotionally charged McHenry County Board meeting in 2021. Tensions were high because the board was about to decide the future of the county's contract [00:00:40] with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

[00:00:44] The contract generated millions of dollars a year, much-needed revenue for the cash-strapped county. [00:00:50] But many local residents felt it came at too high a moral cost. I'm Carlos Acosta. I was on the board that day and in that room. [00:01:00] In this episode of Change Agents: The Podcast, I'm gonna chronicle the nearly two-decade fight by some residents to rid their community [00:01:10] of ICE detention

[00:01:14] McHenry County is a historically agricultural community about 50 miles northwest of [00:01:20] Chicago, and in the late 1990s, it was booming.

[00:01:23] Jack Franks: McHenry County back then was one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. We weren't growing corn, we were growing houses, [00:01:30] basically.

[00:01:30] Carlos Acosta: That's Jack Franks. He was the state representative for most of McHenry County back then, when sprawl from the Windy City brought the total number of residents from [00:01:40] 186,000 in 1990 to nearly 260,000 just 10 years later.

[00:01:46] The county's infrastructure was buckling under the weight. Its jail needed an [00:01:50] expansion, but the funds weren't there.

[00:01:53] Jack Franks: The county had built a detention facility adjacent to the, uh, courthouse, but they wanted to get the third story [00:02:00] built out, which would have cost millions of dollars.

[00:02:02] Carlos Acosta: That's when he says the sheriff came up with a plan.

[00:02:05] Jack Franks: The sheriff, Keith Nygren, had tried to cut a deal with the federal [00:02:10] government. The feds were going to pay for the build-out and make it a revenue source for the county.

[00:02:15] Carlos Acosta: That continuing revenue source, on top of the construction [00:02:20] funds, would come from renting out beds to ICE. It was a massive windfall. I moved to Woodstock in 2001 for a job and to raise my family.[00:02:30] 

[00:02:30] I quickly became active with the immigrant community, and this relationship between the county and ICE would change the trajectory of my life. In [00:02:40] 2003, to gain support from the immigrant community, Sheriff Nygren invited me to tour the proposed detention center. I immediately called Fred.

[00:02:49] Fred Tsao: Back [00:02:50] then, immigration detention certainly was not, um, used to the scale that it is being used now.

[00:02:56] Carlos Acosta: I met Fred Tsao in 2000 when he was the policy counsel [00:03:00] for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights while we were doing research for the organization.

[00:03:05] Fred Tsao: Far fewer people were being housed in immigration detention. [00:03:10] That said, you know, we obviously still had concerns. It didn't seem like the right thing to do to not just arrest people, but to keep them in jail-like situations when [00:03:20] all that detention was needed for was to make sure that people were showing up for their court dates.

[00:03:25] Carlos Acosta: Fred said that a very small number of people kept in immigration detention were [00:03:30] wanted for criminal acts. The majority were just there for administrative reasons. I remember that tour. It was a [00:03:40] massive space. At that point, I didn't really have a concept of immigration detention or how many people the jail would one day house.

[00:03:48] I was a new social [00:03:50] worker

[00:03:53] Then State Rep Jack Franks saw the detention center as a source of federal revenue, which would [00:04:00] reduce the local tax burden. He ran for office as a fiscally conservative Democrat, so to him, it was a way to keep a promise to never vote for a tax [00:04:10] increase.

[00:04:10] Jack Franks: I wasn't against it. I thought it made sense. I figured this was a way for intergovernmental cooperation, and it would be a way to also have people employed here in the county, quite frankly.

[00:04:18] So I thought it made sense.[00:04:20] 

[00:04:20] Carlos Acosta: Others had doubts. Among them were two tough old nuns from Chicago who had spent decades doing ministry work inside prisons. Four years after McHenry [00:04:30] County started housing immigrants, Sisters Pat Murphy and Joanne Persch, with the Sisters of Mercy, wanted to make sure detainees were afforded religious expression and [00:04:40] support.

[00:04:41] They set out to create a pastoral care visitors program. So they reached out to Sheriff Keith Nygren at the McHenry County Jail. He wasn't too [00:04:50] receptive.

[00:04:50] Fred Tsao: I remember being in a meeting at the jail, uh, with the sisters and with the sheriff, where the sheriff just rattled off all the types of criminal [00:05:00] convictions that the people who are in immigration detention had, uh, imposed on them.

[00:05:05] And the sisters listened to that and basically chuckled, [00:05:10] chuckled out loud, saying, "You know, we've done prison, we've been doing prison ministry for years. Uh, and you know, so we've dealt with people who were convicted of far worse [00:05:20] things. This doesn't worry us at all." Yeah. So that, that argument did not work.

[00:05:28] Carlos Acosta: Still, the [00:05:30] sheriff told Sisters Pat and Joanne no. But the sisters were notorious for never taking no for an answer, so they rallied support from Fred's organization, the Illinois [00:05:40] Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. And together, they turned to the General Assembly. But interestingly enough, um, many members of the Republican [00:05:50] caucus saw this as a religious liberty issue.

[00:05:53] They viewed this as an avenue for people who were in immigration custody [00:06:00] to exercise their religion freely. The Access to Religious Ministry Act passed the General Assembly with near-unanimous support. It [00:06:10] guaranteed that, moving forward, all religious volunteers, including Sisters Pat and Joanne, could minister to immigration detainees in county jails.[00:06:20] 

[00:06:20] Soon after, their organization, the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, started training local volunteers in McHenry County to [00:06:30] join them in that work. In time, those volunteers would become valuable allies in the fight for immigrant rights. [00:06:40] That includes Amanda Garcia. She moved to McHenry County from Chicago in 2007, soon after law school, because it was the only [00:06:50] place she could get a job.

[00:06:51] Amanda Garcia: When I moved, uh, to McHenry County, I was not aware that ICE had beds in the county jail. It wasn't [00:07:00] until, I think, 2015 that I learned that that was a reality. And when I heard that, it felt very urgent, like, I need to [00:07:10] understand what's happening here and I need to involve myself.

[00:07:13] Carlos Acosta: She immediately volunteered with ICDI and met with Deacon Pam Sherman, who by then was running [00:07:20] the organization's jail visitation program.

[00:07:22] Amanda Garcia: The first question she asked is, "Why do you want to do this?" I started crying. My verbal answer, I [00:07:30] know it didn't come out very clearly, but I said, "This is so unfair." I think she recognized that my response was genuine, although it wasn't that [00:07:40] articulate, but that was my sincere feeling about it. This is so unfair that people would be locked up for what?[00:07:50] 

[00:07:50] For trying to protect themselves, for seeking asylum, for, I don't know, not filling out the right paperwork, for not speaking the right language. [00:08:00] Um, it seemed like an impossibility. They're not accused of a crime. They've not been convicted of a crime. They're not being punished. Technically, it's all [00:08:10] civil.

[00:08:10] If anything, these are, in many cases, people that need humanitarian support, and our response to that is, um, oppression.[00:08:20] 

[00:08:20] Carlos Acosta: That feeling only deepened the first time she went into the McHenry County Jail and saw how the immigrant detainees were living.

[00:08:28] Amanda Garcia: There wasn't much [00:08:30] sunlight, even though it was daytime.

[00:08:32] The windows are super small, so it was kind of cold. Because it's kind of a big space and it's hard [00:08:40] surfaces, like there are no carpets, there aren't blankets, like it's noisy. But it was definitely an intimidating space. It's meant to be. And there were [00:08:50] so many of them, and everyone was Brown. There... I didn't see any White people.

[00:08:56] It was shocking that this is real, that we [00:09:00] really do this. It was a lot, and when I would leave, I would just go weep in my car.[00:09:10] 

[00:09:10] Carlos Acosta: In 2020, I got elected to the county board on a platform of more transparency regarding the detention of immigrants in our county jail. I [00:09:20] soon co-sponsored a resolution to cancel McHenry County's contract with ICE. Then, in 2020, the conversation changed. [00:09:30] Here's Fred Tsao again

[00:09:33] Fred Tsao: COVID forced ICE and the county jails to try to release people back into the [00:09:40] communities because these jails became COVID hotbeds.

[00:09:44] So the jail population at all of these facilities decreased sharply. [00:09:50] And lo and behold, the county, which thought that, uh, it was going to be profiting from this jail contract, figured out, "Hey, we're doing okay." [00:10:00] So it was a combination of the lack of a fiscal rationale and then, you know, the, the fact that so many people were getting released from ICE [00:10:10] custody and the world didn't end, that's, uh, really got people in the community thinking, "Well, why don't we just end this?"

[00:10:17] Carlos Acosta: At the same time, a racial reckoning was taking [00:10:20] place across the country, turning many people who hadn't been politically active in McHenry County and elsewhere into activists. They [00:10:30] had been activated by the murder of George Floyd.

[00:10:32] Amanda Garcia: The abolitionist movement liked to abolish policing structures, institutions of incarceration.[00:10:40] 

[00:10:40] That existed before him, but his murder put a focus and an urgency on the matter that [00:10:50] resonated beyond Minnesota. It resonated beyond the location where he was murdered, and it continued to grow and educate the [00:11:00] entire United States population.

[00:11:03] Carlos Acosta: That awareness led to the creation of the Coalition to End the ICE Contract in McHenry County and a months-long [00:11:10] campaign to pressure the McHenry County Board to terminate their contract with ICE.

[00:11:14] Amanda was a key organizer in that campaign. And we were [00:11:20] making the cause visible through all of these different actions. Some of the actions, they were so creative 'cause we had quite a few moms in our group, [00:11:30] so they wanted to be able to bring their children to the protests. But we had, um, a protest called Free the Peeps.

[00:11:38] One of our volunteers, they [00:11:40] built a little wooden jail that contained a marshmallow Peep. And then to free the Peep, you had to do a scavenger hunt. [00:11:50] During COVID, we said, "Well, what if we just decorate our cars? What if we, like, drive around the jail?" And, um, that [00:12:00] one was memorable because we could see the detainees inside.

[00:12:03] They were banging on the windows to say that they saw us. So every time we did an action, [00:12:10] it felt like a win. By this time, Jack Franks was no longer a state rep. He was chairman of the board. His views on the costs [00:12:20] and benefits of the ICE contract had also evolved, and he became an ally in the fight.

[00:12:26] Jack Franks: We had the money.

[00:12:27] Not only did we do a rebate, [00:12:30] we also cut the county board's tax levy by 12% my first year. We had plenty of money. We were overcharging people. We didn't need to be doing [00:12:40] that to make the budget whole, and it was blood money. And I just, I just, I found it morally repugnant.

[00:12:47] Carlos Acosta: The local campaign culminates on [00:12:50] May 18th, 2021, with a scheduled vote by the McHenry County Board to terminate the contract with ICE.

[00:12:58] I co-sponsored that [00:13:00] resolution.

[00:13:02] Amanda Garcia: Arriving at the administrative building the night of the final vote felt [00:13:10] overwhelming. I mean, just seeing the parking lot because there were so many people there protesting with their drums, making [00:13:20] noise, singing and chanting. Like the vibe in the parking lot was fierce. It was people like from other parts of the state.[00:13:30] 

[00:13:30] Oh, it was just very exciting and hopeful and meaningful that maybe, maybe this, maybe we did it. This could be it. And that [00:13:40] parking lot is in direct view of the jail. So there were people in ICE custody on the top floor watching us protest. [00:13:50] They saw us, and they saw that we were there for them because we wanted them to be free.

[00:13:57] Carlos Acosta: But inside the building, there was a very [00:14:00] different tone.

[00:14:03] Amanda Garcia: It was very tense. There were a lot of people in the room that wanted to keep things status quo, [00:14:10] and then there were immigrants and their families and advocates and community members who were those noise makers in the parking lot. [00:14:20] There was a lot of tension.

[00:14:21] McHenry County Board Meeting: Multiple Speakers: I'm here on behalf of probably tens of thousands of family members all over the United States that lost loved ones killed by illegal [00:14:30] aliens. My brother- Objection. Please, if you cannot remain orderly, you may be asked to leave. Why should he get to speak first when everybody else-

[00:14:39] Amanda Garcia: And [00:14:40] I remember one of my friends watching the live stream texted me.

[00:14:44] McHenry County Board Meeting: Multiple Speakers: Order, please. "It looks like someone's about to throw a chair." Then you should follow the order. That was [00:14:50] his sense of how tense it looked. You will be asked to leave. This is your last warning.

[00:14:55] Good evening. My name's Jose Lopez. Uh, I've been living in McHenry County for [00:15:00] 17 years, uh, since I was about seven.

[00:15:02] Almost everyone who is an immigrant in this county knows about the inhumane contract that we have with ICE because of the fear and [00:15:10] discrimination that this creates. The perception that this gives is that this county is filled with and ran by racists and xenophobes who have no regard for human rights and [00:15:20] freedoms.

[00:15:20] Thank you. Carl Kaminski. I, I would ask that the audience please be seated. There are seats here for a reason. I would, uh, a- appreciate it if you would please [00:15:30] be seated. I have asked you to please be seated. Everyone will have a chance to speak. Mr. Kaminsky, please proceed. Most of the folks that [00:15:40] have come before you and have spoken on this topic are not from McHenry County.

[00:15:44] The overwhelming majority of detainees that are housed in McHenry County ICE detention [00:15:50] centers have been convicted of criminal offenses not related to their immigrational status. Murder, sexual assault, damage, drugs, weapon offense, battery, burglary, [00:16:00] arson, kidnapping, and robbery. An audit conducted by...

[00:16:02] Carlos Acosta: I sat on the dais with the other county board members, watching these waves of energy back and forth.

[00:16:09] And I could sense [00:16:10] the anger and the fear coming from my colleagues as well.

[00:16:13] McHenry County Board Meeting: Multiple Speakers: My name is Kristen Runner. I am a lifelong resident of McHenry County. I am a mother to five US citizen children, ages four, six, 10, 15, and 19, and I am [00:16:20] also the wife of a detainee at the McHenry County Jail. For the last 20 months, I have been living a nightmare I don't wish upon anyone.

[00:16:27] My husband was taken into ICE custody in December of [00:16:30] 2019, and 20 months later we are still fighting his case with him still behind bars and no end in sight. My husband is not dangerous or a threat to the community. [00:16:40] The only thing he and many others are guilty of is not having the same paperwork as you and I.

[00:16:45] Carlos Acosta: After almost three hours of emotional testimony, the [00:16:50] McHenry County Board votes along party lines. 15 no, eight yes. The ICE contract would remain in place.[00:17:00] 

[00:17:00] Amanda Garcia: It was just devastation. I f- I was so angry. I c- I didn't know what to do with that anger. I don't know how to move forward with [00:17:10] this.

[00:17:11] Carlos Acosta: Even going into it, my logical, political, organizing brain knew there was probably no way we were gonna win this.

[00:17:19] [00:17:20] So there was a part of me that almost felt bad for having organized people to do this only to get their hearts stomped on. Our movement had highlighted the [00:17:30] power of local action, but also its limits.

[00:17:34] Amanda Garcia: These local governments are too wrapped up in this practice financially to ever release [00:17:40] it. They'll never let it go.

[00:17:41] As long as it benefits their budget, they're never gonna say no.

[00:17:47] Carlos Acosta: Still, we'd come closer than [00:17:50] anyone thought possible just a few years ago, and I knew we weren't alone. The immigrant rights movement had been growing across the state. So I went home [00:18:00] and I told myself Today we mourn. Tomorrow we organize. So we did.[00:18:10] 

[00:18:10] Fred Tsao: We've learned on some previous occasions that, uh, if you lose on the local level, well, you may be able to go to a higher level.

[00:18:18] Carlos Acosta: While we had been plugging away [00:18:20] in McHenry County, Fred and the ICIRR had been working with legislators in Springfield on a bill that would end county-run ICE detention [00:18:30] across the state.

[00:18:31] Fred Tsao: We were able to draw lots and lots of inspiration from the really great work that the team in McHenry County was doing on the local level.[00:18:40] 

[00:18:40] Carlos Acosta: So now it was time to head to Springfield. Local organizers, some who had never lobbied state legislators, planned phone calls [00:18:50] and meetings with their representatives.

[00:18:52] Online tools were developed to follow votes and submit electronic witness slips in favor of the legislation. [00:19:00] On May 31st, 2021, only 13 days after the resolution failed in Woodstock, the Illinois [00:19:10] General Assembly passed the Illinois Way Forward Act, ending ICE detention across Illinois. Governor JB Pritzker would later [00:19:20] sign the legislation into law

[00:19:24] I'll never forget someone saying, "This was organizing." [00:19:30] This was the work I had wanted to do forever, just pure organizing. You take an issue, you organize around it locally, you [00:19:40] build power, you empower people, and then those people empower their elected officials to make the right choice. I just reveled in [00:19:50] that moment.

[00:19:52] To see that legislation pass and to see the joy of the other people that had become organizers. [00:20:00] They had gone from being real estate agents and teachers and students to being organizers. To understand the world as it [00:20:10] is and what the work has to be to make it the world as it should be. So yeah, that was a good day.[00:20:20] 

[00:20:20] Amanda Garcia: That was a very proud moment. All of the work, all of the speaking, all of the meeting with people, arguments with people about what we should [00:20:30] or shouldn't do, all of that struggle led to this result. And I know that we felt the people from this county that had [00:20:40] participated from the beginning. At least I felt like that's our win.

[00:20:46] We did that. We did that.[00:20:50] 

[00:20:53] Carlos Acosta: The McHenry County State's Attorney appealed the Illinois Way Forward Act in court, but lost. [00:21:00] And so in February of 2022, the last immigrant was transferred out of the McHenry County Jail[00:21:10] 

[00:21:14] Judith McCray - Reparations Media: Reparations defined means making amends for wrongs and injustices. Reparations [00:21:20] Media is founded on the idea that repair can take many forms. Media has the power to change narratives, from bias and exclusion to equity [00:21:30] and inclusion. When I shifted my mind, then I'm meeting phenomenal people. I'm hearing these phenomenal narratives, and I'm like, "Wait, these stories are not told."[00:21:40] 

[00:21:40] We're not just the worst of us. I was given an opportunity, and I will utilize it. Why not just invest in myself? We produce documentaries, podcasts, [00:21:50] social media messaging, and offer consulting that leverages the power of story to heighten awareness, promote understanding, and inspire behavioral change.[00:22:00] 

[00:22:01] It's about building rapport and relationships, and building trust. We need to be there. Laws that allow people to legally discriminate against- People like [00:22:10] myself being in the room as, like, policy is being created. If we cannot figure out how to be more diverse and equitable and [00:22:20] inclusive, right, in this time, when are we gonna figure it out?

[00:22:25] This is the time to figure it out .At [00:22:30] Reparations Media, we're figuring it out, crafting stories that break down the barriers that separate us, that make amends for wrongs and harms. [00:22:40] Please join us in this work. We welcome your support at [00:22:50] reparationsmedia.org.